Chloes Curse Part 2
by Vamp712
Summary: We were having some technical difficulties with the story so we will be continuing it here!
1. Where am I?

**Chloe's POV**

I woke up gradually. Everything around me felt so soft it almost made me want to go back to sleep. I gripped the soft silky sheet and yawned. I tried to remember what happened but it was all kind of a blur, I was talking to Nate then I was here. I couldn't remember anything in between.

I sat up and opened my eyes finally. Something pulled at my ankles as I sat up. I moved the sheet to find ankle cuffs. I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I looked up from the bed. I was in a bedroom, the walls were concrete but the room still had an inviting feel to it. The bed was unbelievably soft, the floor had a dark red carpet, the overhead light was pale and not too blinding. The small desk and dresser were wooden. I realized there was no window in the room but there was a skylight. Though it was too high up to be able to get out of. I followed the cuff's chain with my eyes, it was anchored to the wall near the door, so I had a few feet to work with and be able to move about the room.

There was a solid knock on the door before it opened.

"Oh good, you're up," Nate smiled.

"What have you done?"

"Brought you home," Nate said.

"Then you know that my friends will be able to find me," I pointed out.

Nate chuckled, "That place is nice, but that's not our pack's primary residence. That's not our true home."

My heart sank.

Nate tossed something over to me, it landed on the foot of the bed with a soft swishy sound. As soon as I smelled it, my senses went wild. Blood. It was blood. And I wanted it now. Like an animal, I snatched it up and did what I needed to do.

Nate quietly chuckled watching me, "I figured you might like that. You need your strength back after that enchanted blood."

A wave of shame and defeat washed over me as I came back to my senses and realized what I had just done.

"Oh don't feel bad. Its in your nature now."

"What do you want with me?" I whispered looking down at the empty bag.

Nate undid the chains from the wall and held onto them.

"I want you to come with me," he said. "And I promise these," he rattled the chain. "Are a temporary measure until we know you're vampirism is under control."

I stood up from the bed and followed him. Feeling like an Edison experiment prisoner again. We walked up a small flight of stairs and into an open floor plan type of home. Large windows lined the outer walls and arches replaced walls that would normally separate rooms.

"Not what you expected?" Nate asked.

I nodded.

"When you feel caged in your own body at times, an open home makes you feel more at ease," Sylvia rounded the corner. She saw my chains. "Darling! Take those cuffs off of her! We treat people like people not animals."

Nate knew there was no point in trying to argue with her. He took the cuffs off me but then used his alpha control on me, telling me not to run away.

"Why am I here?" I said.

"To learn about your history," Nate answered.

"I'm not a natural born werewolf though. This isn't my history."

"Once you're part of the bloodline; it is. No matter what age you came in."

"Remind me why you couldn't teach me at home?" I asked.

Nate looked annoyed at the questioning.

"Because there are reasons to do it here," he said.

I was equally annoyed with his vague response.

**Simon's POV **

Tess was right, about ten or so minutes into the car ride I was feeling back to normal. We were all worried about her, but Derek was obviously the worst. He scratched at his arms until the bled, trying to keep his anxiety under control. He went through spouts of anger. His latest one got graphic on what he was going to do to Nate in revenge. To draw his mind off of killing Nate, I tried to ask him a question.

"What are you going to do if Chloe isn't there? Can we think of somewhere else she might be?"

Derek shook his head, "She's not a runaway type anymore."

Tori laughed, "How would you know? Have you ever been a vampire before? She could have done that leave to protect loved ones thing she likes to do."

Derek growled at her darkly. Making even me shrink back some. He was legitimately worried about Chloe being out there all on her own.

"Calm down," I tried to tell him. "We can't do anything until we get there."


	2. She's not home

Nate lead me and Sylvia out to the property behind the house. I shivered a little against the cold. As we walked through the trees I tried to look around for a good path to bolt on but my feet ignored my head. They followed my alpha's command to stay close. I summoned Liz and Kyle but only Kyle appeared.

"Chloe!" He said, walking beside me. "Oh god, everyone's been scrambling to find you."

I opened my mouth to respond.

"No no," he cut me off. "Don't let them know that I'm here. The longer I can stick around and figure out where we are; the better chance I have of helping your family find you."

"What do you keep looking at?" Nate asked.

"Nothing," I said. Keeping my eyes forward from then on.

There was the sound of more footsteps behind us. I tried not to turn around and look in case it was in my head.

"Who are they?" Kyle asked.

He saw them too, they weren't ghosts I accidentally summoned. I glanced back over my shoulder. Four people followed us, faces covered by matching dark hoods.

"W-what's happening?"

"I told you, you're about to learn our history."

We stopped along a row of trees. They were all dark, almost black.

"Let us begin," Nate smiled.

Everyone around me, and Kyle, started chanting something. It didn't sound English. An almost purplish light seemed to start coming from the roots of the black trees.

"I don't like the looks of this," Kyle said.

Nate grabbed my arm and lead me closer to the purple light.

**Simon's POV**

We arrived at the werewolf home. Matt tried to get us to move stealthily so we would maintain the element of surprise. But Derek couldn't handle the patience for that. He pushed past us all as we got out of the car, grabbed Jeremy by the back of his neck, and started towards the front door.

"Hey man!" Jeremy panicked. "What are you doing?!"

"Human shield," Derek smiled darkly.

Derek busted through the front door as we all scrambled to keep up. I expected someone to jump out, guns to be fired, something. But it was just dead silence.

"There's no one here," Matt said. His eyes closed as he scanned the area.

Derek didn't believe him or didn't hear him. He disappeared into the house with Jeremy.

"Derek!" I yelled.

Matt grabbed my shoulder before I could go after him.

"Hold on," he said.

I heard shouting and things being broken inside the house. But it was all Derek's voice. Matt was right that no one else was here.

Matt expected this reaction, "He was going to lose it quick anyway, let him work it out on their stuff not us."

Matt sent Tess and Tori to go search around the property just in case. Here I stood with Rachel and Matt. Waiting for some sign. Where on earth were we going to find her?

By the time Tess and Tori returned with no news. The commotion in the house had quieted down.

"I'm going in," I said.

I went inside the house, listening for Derek and Jeremy. I heard movement downstairs and quickly went down, no weapon in hand. If they weren't alone I was useless. I reached the bottom of the stairs and Jeremy raced over to me.

"He's losing his mind!"

There were some claw marks on Jeremy's arm.

"Did you get bit?" I asked him.

Jeremy shook his head.

"Upstairs. Now." I told him. When he didn't move right away I have him a light shove. "Go."

Jeremy raced up the stairs, he was terrified of Derek right now. I wondered if that was the first time he had dealt with a werewolf change.

"Derek?" I looked around.

Something huffed off to my left. I turned to face him.

"You have got to calm down," I said.

Derek stepped forward, a wolf. He let out this weird bark growl thing that sounded vaguely like a laugh. He stepped backwards into the dark.

"Derek? We don't have time for this."

There was some yelps and claws scrapping against the ground.

Derek the human stepped forward a minute later.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Derek laughed again, like he was going insane.

"Where is she?" He asked. "Where did Chloe go, Simon? Hm? Where did they take her? Where is everyone else?"

"You need to calm down."

"Calm? Oh. Yeah. I'll calm down," Derek nodded. "When I know where the hell she is!"

He stepped back into the dark part of the basement. My guess was to change again. He needed her desperately, especially with the fragile state she is in.

"Come upstairs and help us figure it out when you have a grip on yourself," I said then walked back upstairs. Leaving him down here alone until he calmed.

**Do you guys think that its registered with Chloe yet that Nate's been giving her human blood? Does she not notice or is she in denial? Do you guys think its a good or a bad thing that Derek's getting better at changing faster? It would be helpful in dangerous situations like what Nate did to Chloe, but it also means he changes more times when he's stressed out.**

**Also, would you guys like to see chapter titles again like I did in the other part of this story?**


	3. History lesson

**Chloe's POV**

"No!" I shouted as he pulled me closer to the purple lit roots.

Nate ignored my plea and their chanting got louder. He lifted one of the roots and placed it in my hand. The weight pulled me down to my knees. Nate picked up another root and joined in with the chanting. I shut my eyes and everything went silent. The weight of the root held me in place as it wrapped around my arm but nothing else made noise. I opened my eyes. I was in a vast field, Nate by my side.

"What you are seeing is when our pack first settled onto this land. We were a pack of only two werewolves, who migrated over with humans. They lived with them for some time before picking them off one by one, adding to the pack, those who deserved it."

A stone house was constructed in fast forward in the distance.

"This was our primary place to call home but we had other residences throughout the land for when we changed. We didn't want to attract attention to ourselves, you see."

I watched everything Nate tell me happen in fast forward around me, thousands of years of werewolf history like a virtual reality DVD. Nate told me about how they were run out of their home for two generations before they were able to come back under a different name. How they spread werewolfism throughout the land. How they learned to include at least one witch a generation to aid in their alpha control. How they prospered and worked and stayed hidden. Nate told me it all. As he came to a conclusion, he said;

"But sadly we are losing a grip on our homeland, this home and the house you know are all we have left. The innovation and expansion of humans, they are forever coming closer and closer to us. Knocking down forests and building cities. We are not like the New York pack, we live with nature not with concrete. The more humans industrialize, the more of a threat they are."

"Why should I care about any of this?" I asked. "It still has nothing to do with me."

Nate chuckled, "Oh but it does. A girl with three species running through her blood, we will be unstoppable. We will reclaim what is ours."

**Simon's POV**

Derek finally came outside, shirt torn but human. He walked up to us. Tori and Rachel were wandering around the property "looking for clues" but we all knew they just didn't actually care. Matt, Tess, Jeremy, and I were bent over a map rested on the hood of the car.

"Whats this?" Derek asked.

I noticed Jeremy flinch out of the corner of my eye.

"A map of this part of the state, we're trying to figure out any possible areas they could be."

"Any hotel or motel within a days drive," Derek said.

Matt shrugged, "I beg to differ. These werewolves like luxury, they won't put up with some dingy hotel room. Having to share beds and whatnot."

Derek didn't respond, he must have been too exhausted. Who knew how many times he changed in the basement.

"Any large properties?" I asked. "I wouldn't be surprised to see that they owned more than one home."

"We'd need to get online to check our property ownership," Matt said.

"We're grasping at straws so lets go," Tess said. "It shouldn't be too far to a library."

It wasn't that far of a stretch, if we could find the name this property was under, we could search to see if there were others under it. We gathered everyone up and loaded up into the car. Derek fell asleep almost immediately.

We sat in silence for some time while Tess and Matt tried to find the nearest library. I was the one to break the silence, mostly because I knew Derek was asleep and wouldn't freak out over my question.

"What do you think they're doing to her?" I asked.

Tess shrugged sadly, "I don't know. Nothing good."

"Not necessarily," Matt always had to bring in the other point of view. "Nate came off as caring a lot about Chloe. I don't think he would be harming her right now."

"He has a weird way of showing care," Jeremy added to the conversation.


	4. Soldier reprograming

**Chloe's POV**

We were back in the forest, the chanting stopped.

"You can't make me help you," I growled.

Ron removed his hood, "Oh but we can."

He stepped forward and removed the root from my arm. His grip on my shoulder was tight as he guided me back towards the house. A silent Kyle followed, not knowing what I had seen.

"We hoped that you seeing our history would bring you around to our way of thinking," Ron said. "But we have other means if that's not going to work."

"You're not going to infect yourselves with my blood," I struggled from his grip.

Ron chuckled.

"How stupid do you think we are? Of course not."

He led me to a tool shed behind the house. Inside was a wooden chair nailed to the floor. Ron sat me down and strapped me into it. When he turned on the overhead bulb, I saw all the tools lining the walls. This wasn't just a tool shed, it was a torture chamber.

"I don't like the looks of this," Kyle said. I could tell he felt crappy that he wasn't a poltergeist like Liz, he wanted to be able to help but couldn't.

A woman came inside the shed.

"Prim," she introduced herself as she scanned the walls. Looking for something in particular. I responded with a growl and struggle against my restraints. "Have you ever heard of restructuring?"

"No," I shook my head. Admittedly curious.

She pulled a rusty device from the wall that looked like an oversized cork screw.

"Well that's what I'm here for," she snickered. "We are going to restructure your brain to be our soldier."

I screamed no. Kyle rushed at her but it did nothing.

Ron stepped out of the shed and shut the door behind him.

"Oh don't be a wimp," Prim shook her head. "You won't remember the pain. Besides, its a lengthy process. Not overnight."

She stepped closer to me. I screamed again, I would have kicked her if I wasn't strapped down. She picked up a loose leather strap and shoved it into my mouth. Trying to quiet me down.

"Let her go!" Kyle yelled for me.

**Derek's POV**

I was sitting in a chair and a lady I'd never seen before approached me. She shoved something in my mouth that tasted like old dried blood. She smiled and ignored shouting as something pierced my jaw. Pain erupted from it as my skin tore open. Through the pain I could hear screaming. But it wasn't my scream, it sounded like Chloe.

I opened my eyes with a jolt.

"Whoa there," Simon looked up at me. "Everything ok?"

I realized I was drenched in sweat.

"Uh," I didn't know. "Bad dream."

But was it a dream? Or did I really see what Chloe was seeing? Oh god if that really was my connection with Chloe, I might puke. To see that is one thing, to live it is another.

"You sure that you are ok sweetie?" Tess asked.

"I hope so," I admitted. "Or Chloe's in big trouble."

"You think you had one of your telepathic things?" Simon asked before I could shush him.

"What?" Tess and Matt said in unison.

I glared at Simon. "I told you not to mention that."

"Well, cats out of the bag. Care to explain?" Matt replied.

"When the Edison Group had Chloe they must have messed with her brain or something by accident. We can sometimes hear each others thoughts."

I made no eye contact as I spoke.

"Awesome," Jeremy smiled. "I wish they did that to me."

I whipped around and gave him a look that shut him up immediately.

"What did you see?" Simon asked.

"It was a bad dream," I told him.

"But what was it?" He pressed.

Simon got my glare again.

"Torture, ok? She's being tortured into a soldier. Happy?"

"Oh god," Matt's heart sank.


	5. Kyle can't help

**Warning. I try to keep the graphics to a minimum here but just fair warning.**

**Chloe's POV**

I panted and strained against the restraints. I couldn't know for sure but I felt like I was going in and out of consciousness. I vaguely remember being free from the restraints earlier. Fighting with Ron in the yard. They must have tested to see how my brainwashing was going.

Prim smiled watching me panic. She lifted a long needle from a tray and placed the tip gently on my temple.

I whimpered.

"Now now," she said. "This needle won't hurt you if you do as I say."

She was reprogramming me with pain.

"Who is your Alpha?"

"N-Nate."

She nodded, "Good. Who is your master?"

Master? What? I didn't know anyone called master!

She pressed the needle in, not enough to break the skin but enough to hurt.

"Nate!" I shouted.

She smiled, "Good. Where is your home?"

"Here."

"What are you going to do if you see the Bae family again?"

"Run away with them," I spit in her face.

I heard her say 'wrong answer' and I heard Kyle scream but it quickly faded to black from the pain of the needle driving in deeper. As soon as I woke up, it would be a repeat of the questions until I got them right like a robot.

**Derek's POV**

We sat in the library on computers, Tess and Matt were trying to connect the name on the property to other possible names. Simon, Jeremy, and I stared at the map looking for possible areas. Rachel and Tori were off somewhere not giving a care like usual.

I felt eyes on the back of my head every so often. Everyone would glance up at me, waiting for me to have another mental breakdown. As terrified as I am though, I was holding it together on the outside.

I doubted it would work but I closed my eyes and pictured Chloe. I pictured saying to her, "Its going to be alright. We are coming to find you Chloe. I love you. I'll find you." Who knows if I'm fooling myself or if its actually getting through to her? I wish Liz was here and could teleport around, telling us where she is at. No one would say it but I bet they were thinking it too.

"What about here?" Jeremy pointed at the edge of the map. "We might be going about this the wrong way. We assume she's somewhere within a days distance of this werewolf mansion. But really she's somewhere within a days distance of Tess'. She could be way over here instead. Just over state line."

"Fair point," Simon nodded. He walked over to Matt and Tess and said quietly, "Expand your search a state over. She could be out that way too."

Matt and Tess typed away furiously. I just stared at the map, itching to tear it to pieces in frustration. But I needed to hold it together and keep trying to send thoughts Chloe's way. Maybe one of them would get through to her. Simon highlighted possible areas he thought we should check out.

"We need a second car," I said. "We need to split up and cover more ground."

"We don't have the luxury of the time to run home and get another car," Matt said without taking his eyes from the screen.

"Dad," I said like it was obvious. "He's still home." I looked over at Tess. "Call him now. Give him any locations we're suspicious of that are between home and here that he can check on the way to us."

"Yes sir," Tess nodded and stood up. Phone calls weren't allowed in the library, she would have to step outside.

**A bit of a time skip. Couldn't leave the chapter so short and I don't want to drag this out for too long.**

**Kyle's POV**

"Chloe?" I tried to get her attention.

She sat there staring blankly at the wall. All emotion absent from her blood covered face. The torture was getting through to her. The shed door opened and Nate entered this time instead of Prim.

"Chloe," he said. "How are you feeling?"

Chloe didn't answer.

"Answer me," he said firmly.

Chloe's shoulders tensed and her head dropped.

"Alive," she said.

Her voice was crackly like she was severely dehydrated. Being a ghost, I didn't think about food much, but come to think of it now; I don't recall seeing them feed her at all.

Nate took a step closer to her. Her head shot up, eyes bloodshot, fangs jumped from her gums. Chloe hissed at him. He smiled and walked around to the back of the chair. He pulled something from a back drawer and placed it around her neck. Chloe froze, not knowing what was happening. The thing made a click and buzzed ever so slightly if you paid attention to the sound. Nate back in front of her.

He undid her restraints. Chloe, terrified, didn't move.

"Stand," he instructed her but not in the alpha controlling way, in a boss to slave sort of way.

Chloe did. She shook either from weakness or fear. Or both.

"Chloe," I said softly. "Run girl run."

Chloe wasn't hearing me. She made no acknowledgement to me.

"You want blood?" Nate asked her.

Chloe hissed.

"Then be a good soldier," he stepped back and opened the door.

Waiting outside it was Prim. They were going to test her again. See how well she was following orders. If I wasn't dead, I'd be vomiting from the things I'd seen them do to her to get her here.


	6. Game Plan

**I'm sorry for shoving some characters off to the side like Kit Tori and Rachel. It's just hard to juggle so many characters and give them all something relevant to do. I'm working on roping them in.**

**Also, interesting idea Thatreader2003. I think that would be really cool to explore!**

**Simon's POV**

Tess came back inside after her phone call She said that Dad was on his way and would check out the locations on the way. He would be here by the end of the day.

I watched Derek out of the corner of my eye. Surprised how calm he was being.

"You alright?" I asked him.

Derek shrugged, "I don't know. Of course I'm not ok, I'm worried to death for her. But I know I need to keep it together. At least until we've located her." His hand tensed. "I'm going to kill my father for this."

I set a hand on his shoulder, "We all feel that way."

"I think I've got something," Matt interrupted everyone.

Quickly, we all gathered around his computer.

"The property was under the name Wollard Pracus. There aren't any under that name that I can find," Matt explained. He clicked on the far side of the state and an hour south of where we were, "But here are properties that seems similar to their taste, big mansions, lots of land. This far one is under William Peacock. The south one is under Wick Pruzik." He paused and looked at all of us. "W P. They're all under W P. Werewolf Pack."

Tess smacked him on the shoulder, "Good job!"

Matt sent the maps and addresses to the printer.

"Now," he said. "We don't know that this is the pack. This could be a regular person's home. So we have to be stealthy, we can't go in gun abazin' into a random human home."

We all nodded understanding.

"Who's going where?" Derek asked.

"We need to wait until Kit gets here with the other car."

"Who's going where?" Derek repeated forcefully.

Tess interjected.

"I say the crew that leaves now hits the furthest home. That way the second crew that's waiting on Kit can shoot straight to the closer home. Making them both hit at virtually the same time."

I nodded, it made sense in case they were both under the pack's control; one wouldn't be able to warn the others. We could still have the edge.

Derek looked around, dividing us up in his head.

"So whats the teams?" I asked.

"Me, you, Tori, and Matt go now. Tess, Jeremy, and Rachel wait for Dad."

I looked around, no one had any arguments.

"Game time," Matt stood up.

He grabbed the papers from the printer and we got into the car after wishing the other crew luck.

We drove to the gas station first, Matt got the gas while the three of us talked. Derek was ready to jump out of his skin, nervous or excited I could not tell. The glove compartment in front of Derek opened.

"What're you doing?" I asked.

"That wasn't me," Derek shut the glove compartment.

Immediately it opened again and things started moving around inside it. We all sat confused until a paper came out of it with one word written on it.

'Liz.'

"Liz!" Tori smiled. Forgetting about keeping our work private for the moment. "Have you found anything yet?"

'No' was wrote on the paper.

"Did you send her looking for Chloe?" Derek asked. "You could have told us."

Tori shook her head, "Liz is helping me out with something else."

"Oh your I want attention secret," Derek smirked.

She glared at him. I was confused, what had I missed between the two of them?

"Why don't you take a break Liz and come with us. We could use all the help we could get."

'Kyle?' was wrote on the paper.

"We haven't heard from him," I said. "Without Chloe, we don't know if he's been around."

"Can you find him?" Derek asked. "He might be with Chloe."

'I'll try' Liz said then the paper and pencil fell to the ground. Liz was gone.

Matt got back in the drivers seat, "Alright, let's do this."

**Derek's POV**

About half an hour into the drive, I think I had another vision of what was going on with Chloe. I watched it through her eyes. A young man stood before me.

"Chloe!" He shouted. "Chloe, listen to me! Stop this! Fight it!"

She ignored him. Looked down at her hands, they were covered in blood. I looked down past her hands, below them was a body. A dead body.

"Did I tell you that you were done?" Nate was standing on the other side of the body.

I tried to look away from what came next but couldn't. She bit deep into the neck of the dead guy.

A cold metal tip was pressed into the back of my head. A woman's voice accompanied it.

"Follow your instructions."

The young man shouted more but it seemed to fade into the background. The dead guy rose to his feet. He was a zombie now. His eyes were full of anger and hatred, he wanted to be freed from the undead prison.

I took a deep breath and grabbed my arm and pinched myself hard, pulling myself back into my head. I'd seen enough. I looked around the car, no one was watching me so no one must have noticed. Good. I had to get to her first, the others couldn't see her like this. Especially Matt, he was a vampire killer; he might kill her for hurting others.


	7. Google Earth

**Chloe POV Past**

I struggled and struggled to fight off Nate and Prim's brainwashing but it got harder and harder. I wondered what happened to Kyle, I hadn't seen him in a while now. How many days has it been? Or any days at all? I can't tell day from night in this shed.

**Chloe POV Present**

Nate called me up from my room for my feeding. I was starving for blood since I wasn't fed yesterday. I didn't deserve food after I screwed up my chores. I raced up the stairs to him and Sylvia. She pulled a bag from the fridge and handed it to me. Quickly, I rank it before Nate could snatch it away. That was one of his favorite ways to punish me for taking too long to do something or doing something wrong.

"You and Sylvia are going to go on your first mission today," Nate said as I disposed of the bag in the trash. "Are you ready?"

"Yes sir," I stood at attention. Eager to please him with my progress in combat.

"Good," he smiled. He gave Sylvia a backpack and a kiss on the forehead.

Nate caught me looking at them and I got a swift smack to the back of the head.

"What have I told you about looking at us like that?! You are a soldier. You are beneath us. Don't you dare try that again." He made sure Sylvia was listening to his next sentence. "No dinner for her tonight. Human or vampire. She doesn't deserve it."

We got into the van. I sat in the back, sitting rigid and on guard. As Sylvia was getting herself situated, a werewolf walked up to the window and tapped on it. Sylvia rolled it down.

"Boss says I'm going instead of you," he said.

Sylvia mumbled something under her breath and got out of the van. I stayed put like a good soldier. Not moving. Not thinking.

**Simon's POV**

Liz came back to us with no news. She said she tracked down Kyle and he was tagging along with her, but he wasn't saying much. He didn't know where they had been but he was with Chloe. Though she wasn't there when Liz showed up.

"Why won't you tell us what is happening?" I asked where I thought Liz and Kyle were sitting.

The note just read, 'bad.'

"What does that mean?" I complained. Bad worried me even more.

Derek was just as upset with this update.

"There's no way you know if she was at the house we are heading to?"

Tori finally spoke up.

"If you guys would forget about magic crap for a second, there is a way."

All of Derek's attention was on her.

"Google Earth," she said. "Search the address and show Liz and Kyle a picture of the house. See if they recognize it.

"You're a genius," I smiled.

"No," Derek grunted.

"Why?" we both asked.

"Because non of us have smart phones," Derek pointed out. "Matt has a flip phone, that's it."

My moment of hope sunk to the floor. Tori continued smiling though.

"What?" I asked.

She pulled a smart phone out from her sweatshirt pocket.

"You think a girl goes on the run without stealing a phone?"

She tossed it over to me. I typed in the address as Matt recited it. Two minutes later, we had a picture.

I showed, or at least tried to show, Liz and Kyle. The paper didn't move for a minute. They must have been trying to decide. Finally on the bottom corner of the paper, it read. 'Yep. He says that's the one.'

I looked at Matt, who I know has a flip phone. And probably Tess' number.

"Call Tess," I said with renewed confidence in our mission. "Tell her to come our way."

**What do you guys think they will be walking into since Chloe isn't there? Or will she be back by the time they're there? What mission are they sending soldier Chloe on and who's this new guy? I want to hear your guys' thoughts on whats to come!**


	8. New player in the game

**Lol! You guys were onto me with the new guy! I'm going to have to get sneakier!**

**Chloe's POV**

We drove in silence for some time before the man finally pulled over. Once the car was in park, he turned around and looked at me. He moved the armrest out of the way.

"Come. Sit up here."

"Yes sir," I got up and maneuvered my way into the passenger seat.

"What do you know about this mission?" He asked.

"Nothing sir."

"Good," he nodded. "Cause I'm changing it. I don't want you killing a witch coven. They've done nothing wrong."

"But orders," I blinked confused. I flinched, thinking that my arguing was going to result in punishment.

"I'm changing your orders," he replied.

I didn't know how to handle this so I sat stiff and quiet.

"The names Elijah," he said. Pulling the car back into the road. "I do most of the grounds keeping at our homes, that's why you haven't seen me."

No response from me. Nate didn't allow casual conversation.

Elijah sighed, "He really got through to you didn't he?"

"Whats the new mission if we aren't going after the coven?" I changed the subject.

"We're going to your family," he said.

Nate's programing in me kicked in and I hissed.

**Meanwhile (third person)**

Sylvia watched the car drive away and walked back into the house. Nate was in his office, he looked up from a stack of papers as I walked by.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

Sylvia shrugged, she didn't know what she was going to do with her day yet. She had planned it around the mission with Chloe.

"Where is Chloe?" Nate stood.

"You sent Elijah to go with her instead of me."

"No I didn't," Nate shook his head.

Sylvia nodded slowly, "Uh, yes you did. He came out, saying you wanted him to go instead of me."

Nate slammed his fist on the desk. Swearing loudly.

"He's been complaining about never going on hunts anymore. He's trying to prove he can handle it." Nate crackled his knuckles. "We are going to have a little chat when they get back."

**Derek's POV**

I don't know if it was nerves, fear, excitement, or what, but I was having a hard time sitting in the car. Matt pulled off at a gas station to give me a minute to work out some of my energy and give the others a chance to catch up to us.

I walked into the bathroom and paced for a few minutes, still unable to pinpoint which emotion it was. I walked over to the sink and splashed some cool water onto my face. I looked at myself, I really needed to shave after we got Chloe back.

My eyes went out of focus for a second and I felt light headed. I grabbed the sink for balance and blinked. When I reopened my eyes I was sitting in a car again. A man with blonde hair and stunning bright green eyes sat in the drivers seat. He talked and talked away but I couldn't hear a word that he said. I looked down to see the familiar small hands of Chloe. I couldn't hear the man because she wasn't listening to him. Her hands were beaten which made my heart hurt. Cuts and bruises covered the skin I could see. I felt terrible for her. Understanding why Kyle might not want to talk about seeing how they did this to her. The man continued talking, not aware or not caring, that Chloe wasn't listening. I felt the sensation of Chloe's stomach growl. For a split second it felt like any normal hungry person's stomach growl. But in that split second it escalated to searing pain. It felt like my insides were consuming each other. I smacked my hand against the mirror to bring myself back into my mind and body.

I stood there staring at the splintered glass trying to hold back tears. They were starving her...The amount of pain she is in...And I'm standing here doing nothing about it...

I gave myself a minute to regain my composure as best as I could and rinse some blood off of my hand. I cut one of my knuckles when I hit mirror.

"Keep it together," I told myself. "For Chloe, keep it together."

I walked back out to the car.

"We need to get going now," I said to Matt who was outside the car pumping gas.

"Tess and them are catching up to us though, we should wait for them."

"Now," I growled. Feeling some anger bubble up, I tried to push it back down.

"Give them half an hour Derek," Matt said. "We need all the reinforcements we can get."

I didn't respond, I got back into the car. Staying silent and ignoring everyone. I needed to focus on looking like I was okay. I can't show up to rescue Chloe as a sniveling mess. I'm Derek, the overpowered no emotion werewolf not a crying boy with family issues.


	9. Ready Set Fight

**Derek's POV**

The moment Tess and Dad arrived, we got going. This was it, she was about an hour north of us. Only Kyle and I really knew what we would be walking into, him more than me. We stopped worrying about police and sped the whole way there, getting there in about forty minutes.

It was starting to drizzle which worked to our advantage some, our scents would be wiped clean. But it was also a disadvantage because any recent scent of theirs was wiped clean as well. If they had Chloe somewhere other than the house it would be difficult to locate her.

We rounded the corner onto their street. The house was set way back into the woods than the others. It was probably a mile between the werewolves and their neighboring homes. Everyone was taking deep breaths, nervous for what was about to happen. We parked the cars at the end of the driveway so they were out of view. Everyone tried to stay quiet as we weaved through the property trying to get as close to the house as we could before someone noticed. It was difficult to tell if someone was watching us though since almost entire walls were glass, which was fogging with the rain.

"Looking for something?" A voice floated behind us.

Everyone wheeled around. Nate and Sylvia were standing behind us. I guess we were no match in stealth for centuries old werewolf packs.

I could feel my skin get hot from my anger rising. The sight of his face disgusted me.

"Where is she?" I growled.

"Who?" Nate asked.

Tess growled at him.

"You must be referring to my daughter," he grinned widely. "Oh she isn't here right now. She's our killing a coven of witches for me."

It hit me; my vision of Chloe from earlier. She was in a car. How stupid could I be? Of course she wasn't here. How could I glaze over the fact she was in a car?

"She would never do that," Tess stepped forward.

Nate snickered.

"Are you trying to challenge me right now?"

Sylvia stepped forward defensively.

Chaos erupted, while we had been listening to Nate; we were surrounded by pack members.

Tess lunged at Nate but Sylvia got in the way and knocked her off her feet. The two started beating on each other. Rachel tried to take off running but a werewolf grabbed her and threw her into a tree. Knocking her unconscious. Dad and Simon were attacked by Ron. Tori was nowhere to be seen with everyone running around but red sparks told me she was up to something off to my left. Jeremy was fighting a werewolf and losing, he was only human now after all. I lunged for my father but was knocked off my feet by Matt.

"No," he glared at me.

Matt's sword appeared and he went after Nate instead. Matt was trying to stop me from getting hurt, he knew I used my emotions instead of my head in a fight. I didn't look to see what was going on. I joined in the nearest brawl.

I pulled Sylvia off of Tess and locked her arms behind her back. Tess got to her feet quickly and clawed Sylvia in the face with her nails.

"Where is she?" Tess screamed. Though it was barely audible over the commotion.

Sylvia spat blood and laughed. The sound of Chloe yelling "No!" echoed in my ears as I made my next move but she wasn't here to actually say it. I let go of her arms and grabbed her by the back of the neck instead. I lifted Sylvia from her feet and threw her at the largest tree in sight. She hit it with a loud crunch and crumpled to the ground.

Tess looked at me with her mouth wide open until the werewolf that had been fighting Jeremy tried to swing a hammer at her head. Jeremy laid unconscious on the ground. Tess was able to duck in time and her attention swung to him instead of me. I pushed her aside and tackled the hammer werewolf.

"Help Matt," I yelled at her over the commotion.

This guy was going to be the release of all my anger. I wailed punch after punch on the guy.

**Meanwhile (third person)**

Tess stumbled back a bit after Derek pushed her out of the way. He seemed very protective of her right now. He landed one solid punch on the guy, making him drop the hammer. Derek looked back over his shoulder and yelled something about Matt.

Tess spun around looking for Matt. He was locked in combat with Nate. As good as Matt was, he could barely touch Nate with his sword. The Alpha only had a few nicks on his arms. Tess rushed over to help Matt, imitating Derek's insane but working tactics. She tackled Nate from behind. The pair began wrestling and punching. Fighting to be the one on top.

Matt's sword grazed past Tess's stomach by centimeters and into Nate's leg. Pinning him down where he was. He let out an inhuman howling scream. Tess got on top of him and pinned down his arms with her legs. She landed a hit onto his nose. Probably breaking it because blood began to flow.

"Where is she?" Tess screamed again.

"She's mine!" Nate screamed back.

Tess pulled a small six inch dagger from her calf. She had it strapped to her leg in case of emergency. Tess pressed it against Nate's throat.

"Don't make me ask again."

"Tess no!" Matt tried to pull her off of him.

Tess spun around and pointed it at Matt.

"Nothing will come between me getting my daughter back."

Tess' momentary distraction gave Nate the advantage. He pushed her off of him and with a shriek he pulled the sword from his thigh. Before Matt could react, Nate sliced it into his leg for retaliation. He then turned and plunged the sword into Tess' shoulder. She screamed and dropped the dagger. Nate picked it up, examined it for just a second then pressed it against her throat.

"No one challenges me for my soldiers."

A heavy old log suddenly connected with the back of Nate's head. He fell to the ground unconscious. The log fell beside him, no one had been holding it. Matt and Tess looked around for the attacker and saw Simon and Tori standing hand in hand, facing them. There was no time for questions though. Matt had to get the sword out of Tess' shoulder.

The heavy log moved across the ground towards Kit's fight. Whatever Tori and Simon were up to, they were taking out the werewolves.

"This is gonna hurt," Matt grabbed the handle. "I'm so sorry."

He yanked and it came out. Tess cried out again.

"I know I know," he said soothingly, helping her sit up. "I'm so sorry Tess."

They looked around after realizing he talked quieter. Everyone was unconscious around them. There wasn't as many werewolves as there was before, some of them must have fled after Nate going down. But the rest were out cold. Besides them; Simon, Tori, and Kit were the only ones standing. The werewolf with the hammer had gotten a hold of it again while no one was paying attention to Derek's fight. The hammer's handle stuck out of his stomach.

"Derek!" Simon screamed and rushed over to him.

"Oh my god oh my god," Simon shook his head slightly. "Derek can you hear me?! Stay with me!" Simon grabbed Tori, "Help him!"

"Simon," Kit sighed.

Simon shook his head, tears flowing, "No no no no. Tori can fix it."

Tori knelt down beside Derek. She placed a hand on his neck.

"He's still alive."

"Fix him please!" Simon cried.

"Can you?" Kit asked. He was trying to keep his composure but it was starting to break. A tear slid down his blood covered cheek.

Tori closed her eyes and whitish silver light radiated from her hands as she passed them over Derek.

"I can't all the way," Tori said. "But I can fix him enough to get him to a hospital."

"Do it!" Simon grabbed hard onto that glimmer of hope.

Tori took a deep breath. "Someone needs to take that hammer out."

No one moved for a second. Then Kit knelt down, with a shaky hand he grabbed onto the bloody handle and pulled. Derek's eyes shot open and he started screaming. Tori went to work before he would bleed out.

"Calm down!" Simon held his shoulders down. "Hold still!"

Derek kept screaming and shouting until Tori was done.

"He needs a doctor quick."

"Where's Chloe?" Derek looked at Simon.

"I don't know yet," Simon said.

Derek tried to sit up, "We need to find her."

"Derek stop!" Simon tried to hold him down. "You need a doctor."

"Screw that."

"Derek," Matt spoke up firmly. "You, Tess, and I need to go to the hospital now. The others will stay and look for her."

"She's not here!" Derek screamed.

Tori started working on his stomach again, trying her best to keep him alive.

"She's not here," he repeated defeated. "She's in a car..."

He went unconscious again.

"We need to go now," Kit took charge.

They sent Tess, Derek, and Matt off in the one car. Loaded Rachel and Jeremy into the other car. Then went to search around the property. They moved quickly, fearing when the werewolves would wake up. If they woke up.

**Reviews please! Tell me what you think of this chapter! I don't want to post the next one until I get at least one comment about how this fight went down!**


	10. Derek in the hospital

**If you guys find Chloe's part hard to read, that's the point. Its showing how her thought process is sort of falling apart. If you can follow it, just keep that in mind that, that's whats going on with her.  
**

**Chloe's POV**

The car came to a stop. I looked to Elijah for instruction. He smelled the air.

"No one else is here," he said.

I tilted my head up and caught the scents of the Bae family. A hissing growl escaped my throat that made Elijah jump.

"No," he warned.

But Nate's instructions?

He started up the car again.

"We aren't waiting here for them. We don't want to seem like an ambush. Where is the nearest place to stay?"

Why did he keep trying to have conversation with me?

"Ok Stonewall," Elijah huffed. "Out."

He pointed at the car door. Orders. I got out and stood rigidly. Resisting the urge to hunt for the scents owner.

"Come," he ordered.

I followed Elijah as he walked through the backyard to the tall grassy field behind.

"Stay lookout here," he instructed. "DO NOT attack without permission."

"Yes sir," I sat down on a rock facing the empty odd home.

Elijah sat with his back to mine, watching the field. I listened to the beating of his heart.

**Simon's POV**

We swept the grounds quickly and couldn't find Chloe. Dad wrapped up the search because our unconscious friends needed to get to the hospital too.

We sped to the hospital and got them admitted through the ER. A nurse was patching up a nasty bruisd on my head and checking me for a concussion when Matt wheeled in on a wheelchair.

"How is everyone?" I asked.

"Tess and I needed stitches but should be fine. Your unconscious buddies should be fine, they're all awake."

I shifted nervously, why didn't he say anything about Derek?

"Hold still," the nurse said to me as she shined a light in my eyes.

"What about...?" I hesitated, I didn't know if they admitted him under a different name.

Matt sighed, "Its touch and go still. He is still in surgery."

Another nurse appeared in the doorway.

"Come along Mr. Merch we need to get you fitted to crutches."

Matt nodded. Before he wheeled away he looked at me and said, "Keep prayin for him. Thats all we can do for now."

I did, I hoped with all my heart that Derek would be alright. The nurse cleared me as ok and dismissed me to the waiting room. I found Dad and sat next to him and Tori. Dad gave me a strange look.

"What?" I asked.

He cleared his throat. "Care to explain what exactly you two were up to back there?"

Tori quickly shook her head.

"Tori used me as a magic battery," I lied partially. I had used her.

I couldn't tell if Dad saw through me or bought it. He stared off at nothing quietly.

**Time Skip. Let's say two hours. **

A gray haired doctor approached us.

"Your son's in a room now," he said. "You can go see him. But he's heavily sedated."

We were lead to his room. Derek laid there sleeping, blankets were covering him so we couldn't see the bandages.

"We're keeping him for observation," the doctor said. "He's still in a risky state. Please leave him be, don't mess with anything."

The doctor left with Dad to fill out paperwork. I sat beside him, feeling relief and worry. He should be ok but he wasn't out of the woods until it healed.

I looked at Tori, "Can we help him?"

"Tori shouldn't heal again," Tess shook her head. "His body needs to heal naturally from something like this."

I looked at Matt for support. We couldn't leave Derek here and try to find Chloe. We needed him on his feet.

Matt looked at Tori then Tess, "Well Tori could at least use her magic to examine him and get an idea of where he is at."

Tori nodded and came over, she muttered something similar to earlier and held her hand over him.

"What do you think he meant about Chloe being in a car?" I asked Matt.

He shrugged, Tess looked like she didn't know the answer either.

"I think a better question," Jeremy spoke up. "Is why did he let us go to the pack when he knew she wasn't there."

Jeremy had a fair point but it wasn't like Derek to hide information like that.

Before anyone responded to Jeremy, Tori pulled her hand back from Derek.

"If he doesn't get magic healing, it'll take weeks to heal. We all knew Derek won't sit around waiting for that."

Tori and Tess started debating whether or not to use magic to help heal him. I was distracted by something hitting my foot. I looked down to see a neatly folded paper. I picked it up and unfolded it. It read, 'getting closer, have a good lead. give me a few days.'

It must have been from Liz, she has a lead on someone with a spell that could help me and Tori.

"Do you want him changing into a wolf in the middle of this human hospital?" Tori asked her. "Because that's what is going to happen. He can't handle sitting around, it drives him mad."

Tess threw down her final card in the argument, "I think his father should be the one to decide. Not you."

Frustrated, Tori sat down beside me. I passed her the note and we all waited for Dad to come back to make the final decision.

**Half an hour give or take time skip**

Dad came back in, "Tess."

"We wanted to talk to you about-" She started.

"-It can wait." Dad interrupted. "We have a problem."

"What?" We all chimed in.

"Before I left, I put up a perimeter spell around the property. It was breached earlier today."

"By who?" Matt asked.

Dad shrugged, "I didn't have time to put up more than the basic spell. I have no idea who or where."

"Do you know how long they were there?" I asked.

"That's the other troubling part," Dad continued. "I never got a second breach from them leaving. So they either tore down my spell or are still there. Waiting."

I stood, "Some of us need to go back then."

Matt held up a hand, "Whoa, hold on."

"He's right though," Jeremy added.

Tori, who had been surprising me with her dedication to Derek, spoke up as well.

"Kit, we need to fix Derek before we worry about our waiting attackers."

"Excuse me?"

"She's right Dad," I nodded. "We can't leave him here like this for weeks. We need to fix him up. He'll go nuts and do something stupid if he has to lay here forever."

Dad nodded. "You're right."

"Kit," Tess started but Dad held up a hand and cut her off.

Tori went to work with a smug look on her face. Happy that she outdid Tess. I liked this change of heart Tori though, she finally cared about us and what happened to us.

**Thank you so much Thatreader2003! I'm gonna cry! You're so sweet!**


	11. Let's go home

**Tess' House THIRD PERSON.**

**It was a good idea to include a Chloe psychic moment last chapter but I had already written it so I forgot to include that before publishing it. I will integrate it into this chapter, she'll feel something when Derek wakes. (Spoiler? I guess, though what's the story without him so of course he's waking up)**

**Also. I know I have moved around some chapters, so if you are trying to review and can't that's probably why. My readers are always welcome to PM me reviews if they cannot post them.**

Chloe sat there perfectly still like she had been trained to. Elijah glanced over at her every once and a while when she would twitch. He thought she was starting to lose her grip on her vampirism. Nate hadn't given her very much blood lately, just enough to keep her under control. And now she was sitting here starving. He hoped she didn't lose control and go after him.

A chill ran over his skin from the cold night air.

"We can't keep this up," Elijah said. "We have no idea how long they will be gone."

The word killlll hissed out of Chloe's teeth.

"NO." Elijah demanded. "That is not why we are here!" He stood up. Chloe followed suit. "Where is somewhere warm we can stay the night?"

Chloe looked at the home.

"Is there anywhere else?" he asked.

Chloe continued to look at the home

He sighed, this is was not a good idea and he knew it, but they would freeze being out here all night.

"Do not touch anything," he instructed her. He hated that Nate brainwashed her but he had to admit it came in handy sometimes to know she would definitely listen.

They walked up to the house and Chloe stood still. Elijah pulled on the door and it didn't budge. He didn't want to break in because that would work against his motive of peace.

"Find a way in that doesn't involve breaking anything."

"Yes sir," Chloe disappeared.

She hopped up onto the roof to look for skylights, she checked all the windows. Nothing. As she rounded the house to go back to Elijah when she tripped over something. Chloe hissed at the object, until she realized what it was. A screen covering a tiny entrance to the crawl space. Chloe pulled it off and made her way inside it. The place stunk of wet dirt. Chloe worked her way into the basement and came up to the door.

"Good job," Elijah said as he stepped in.

He turned to appear to be shutting the door when instead he grabbed Chloe's arms twisting them behind her back. Cold metal twisted around her forearms. She growled loudly at him.

"Oh calm down," he said. "This is just a safety measure so you don't do something stupid while I'm asleep."

Chloe struggled against it.

"Stop." He ordered as he shut the door and re-locked it. She did. "If you behave tonight, I'll find you blood in the morning. I know you need it."

He saw the flicker of desperation for blood in her eyes. Elijah walked around her and towards the living room. Chloe found herself forced to follow him. He noticed the confused look on her face and said;

"This device doesn't just restrain your arms, it makes sure you're never more than five feet from me."

He sat down in the recliner, maybe it was the dim lighting but he seemed to have dark bags under his eyes. Chloe twitched slightly like something was poking at the back of her head but she couldn't quite identify where it was coming from. Elijah ignored it, he knew she wouldn't have a conversation with him anyway. But at least he got them both out of that dark place.

**Derek's POV**

My body felt hot, I moved uncomfortable. Trying to push whatever was on me, off of me. I didn't find any blankets with my hands though. I heard muffled speech next to me but couldn't make out the words. I felt so hot why was it so hot?

"Derek, open your eyes," finally came through clearly.

I blinked. The room was bright white and smelled of sterilized equipment. Someone squeezed my left hand. I looked over to see Simon on the verge of tears.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Where am I?" I asked, my throat felt a little dry. The last thing I remembered was being in the wooded area fighting a man with a hammer.

"You're in the hospital," Dad said. He was standing behind Simon.

I propped myself up on my elbows and tried to sit up but something was tightly wrapped around my stomach.

"What's with the bandages?" I asked.

"You got real hurt," Simon said. "We thought we were going to lose you."

I looked around at everyone and realized I wasn't the only one who got hurt. Matt was in a cast on crutches, Tess had her arm in a sling, Jeremy and Rachel had ice packs on their heads, and everyone else was black and blue with cuts.

"Where is she?" I asked.

Tess sighed, "We were going to ask you that. You seemed to know before that she wasn't at the house."

I shook my head. They seemed confused that I would shake my head in response. I dropped back onto the pillow, we'd been so close to finding her and I let her slip through my fingers again.

I pulled at the collar of the hospital gown.

"Why's it so hot in here?"

To my surprise, Tori was the one with the explanation.

"I used magic to heal your wounds. Your body might be in a bit of shock from all the sudden changes."

"So I'm good to go?" I asked. They knew me too well, I wanted to get back in the car and go. I couldn't sit here.

Simon set a pair of scrubs pants on my leg.

"This was all I was able to swipe from the nurses station. Your clothes are trashed."

Dad pulled the IV out of my arm while saying to the group;

"Alright, everyone out so he can get dressed."

I swear I saw Rachel look back at me with a wink as she left the room but I chalked it up to delirium. I was still trying to wrap my head around waking up to all this.

I pulled off the gown and bandages, my skin still felt tender so I decided to leave one layer of bandages on. I put the scrubs pants on and pocketed the IV bag of painkiller for later in case Tori's magic was flawed. I stepped out into the hallway where everyone was. It was dimmer than the room, they must dim the lights at night when there are less people around the hospital.

"Lets go," Dad said, walking close to me. He probably was waiting for me to fall over dead or something. I could feel my heart rate pick up as we walked, my body was definitely struggling to play catch up. Even with how stubborn I can be, I knew this meant to take it easy for a bit.


	12. The drive

**Derek's POV**

We got into the cars. Dad, Me, Simon, and Jeremy in one. The rest in the other. Tess and Dad drove the two cars, they were in the best shape of the adults and refused to let any of us drive.

The guys tried to be nice and let me have the passenger seat but I insisted Simon sat up there. I wanted to spread out in the back row as much as possible and let let myself process everything that happened to me. While I was doing that, the rest were talking.

"Where exactly are we going next?" Simon asked Dad.

"Home," Dad said. "We need to check on that perimeter breech and we need to take a minute and regroup. There is a chance we've lost her now. Those werewolves are going to go deep underground for who knows how many years. If they still have her, they're taking her underground with them."

"How long of a drive is it?" Jeremy asked.

I think they were all trying to brush off what Dad just said. No one wanted to face that possibility.

"We will be back around 10am if we don't stop at all."

I tried to relax and not think about what Dad said about her. She was still out there somewhere, I knew it. We just had to figure out where that somewhere was. I leaned the seat back to take the pressure off my stomach. Tori's magic physically fixed it and stopped me from dying or whatever but it still hurt like hell. While the others kept talking, I reconnected my IV that was still in my hand to the bag of pain killers in my pocket.

**A/N: Yes, I know that they have to be hung up and all drip and all that but bear with me here, there's no easy way to do that in a car.**

I closed my eyes and thought of Chloe, wishing I knew how the mental connection worked. If I could reach out to her and have a conversation with her. Figure out where she was.

A loud hissing sound made me practically jump out of my skin. My eyes shot open, no one else reacted to it. They didn't hear whatever I just heard... Was that Chloe? It could have been a vampire-like hiss.

"Get out of my head!"

I looked around again. Still no one else was reacting to what I was hearing. It had to be Chloe.

"Chloe?"

A hiss and then silence. Did she cut me off on purpose or was she losing control? God I hope it isn't her losing control. How would I get through to a blood crazed Chloe vampire? She would never listen to me.

**Meanwhile in the other car from Tori's POV.**

Rachel was sleeping and Tess drove and Matt took the passenger seat, the two of them talked quietly. I didn't mind though because I found a pad of paper underneath my seat. I was quietly communicating with Liz.

'I'm almost there,' Liz wrote to me.

I smiled, writing back instead of speaking so no one got suspicious of me going crazy.

'Where?'

'Rumor of a witch in Canadian mountains has ancient grimoire.'

'How long?' I asked.

'A few days. Kyle coming with for extra help. He says beware of Chloe though, been through a lot.'

'Do you know where she is now?'

The pen hesitated a minute before writing out, 'No.'

'Can you find her?' I asked.

'Can't do everything,' Liz wrote back. She didn't like me asking her to do one thing after another for us.

'Sorry,' I apologized. Using so much magic on Derek had me feeling drained so I wrote, 'Going to try to nap before we get home.'

I ripped off the sheet that Liz and I used and shoved it into my pocket. Then set the pad of paper back where I found it. Closed my eyes and minutes later I was asleep.


	13. Everyone's home

**Simon's POV**

We were five minutes from Tess' house. Everyone was on edge not knowing exactly what we were going to be walking into. The only person who wasn't freaking out was Derek. He sat there calmly reclined in his seat, looking out the window. I wanted to ask him how he could be chilled at a time like this but I saw the clear plastic tube before the words needed to come out of my mouth. He stole the sedative! That was not like him at all, he must really be in pain. I wondered how well Tori's magic really worked.

Derek saw me notice it and gave me a look daring me to say something. I didn't.

"What the-" Tess said as she pulled into the driveway.

I looked up to see what she was talking about. There was a dark blue very nice car sitting in our driveway.

"Looks like our alarm setter might still be here," Dad said. "I want you kids to wait in the car."

"No," Tori and I said in unison.

"Do what he says," Derek said to us.

This medication was worrying me, this was very out of character for him.

I undid my seatbelt, "I'm going with you guys."

The cars came to a stop, Dad, Tess, Rachel, and I were designated to go inside.

We got out and approached the door. Dad stopped and listened but we couldn't hear anything.

Tess unlocked the door as quietly as she could and stepped inside. The sun was coming up so the lights were off as we stepped inside. Tess took a few steps forward.

There was a man on the couch with his back to us.

"Stand up," Dad ordered.

The man set down a magazine and stood, back still to us.

"I'm no threat," he said.

Tess walked closer to him with a strange look on her face. Dad tried to stop her since her arm was still injured but she brushed Dad off.

"What do you want?" Dad asked him.

The man turned around and Tess, seeing his face, immediately punched him with her free hand.

The man stumbled back a few steps and grabbed his face. Blood trickled through his fingers.

"Jesus Tess!" He exclaimed.

We froze.

"You know him?" I asked her.

Tess ignored me.

"You have some nerve coming back here EJ," Tess said to the man.

The man chuckled, "EJ. I haven't heard that in years."

Dad was getting annoyed. "Someone care to explain?!"

"Yeah I know him from a long time ago," Tess nodded. "What are you doing here EJ?"

"It's Elijah now," he said. Wiping the blood off his face. "And I brought a peace offering."

"So you're alone," I said.

He shrugged, "Technically but my peace offering is alive."

I saw Tess' fingers flexing. Whatever was in their past, she wanted to hit him again.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"Your hybrid girl," he said.

Everything was silent for a few seconds while people processed and then chaos erupted. We all started bombarding the stranger wanting her whereabouts.

"Basement," he said. "She needs blood so she's going a little crazy..."

I didn't wait to hear the end of the sentence. I turned and raced out to the cars to spread the news.

"What?" Matt asked. Expecting me to say something bad like someone had been hurt.

"This guy," I huffed. "Has Chloe here. He brought her home."

As home come out of my mouth I realized Derek was not standing there with the others.

"Where's Derek?"

"Never mind him," Matt started crutching towards the door. "He left somewhere. Where is she? How's she doing?"

Everyone went with Matt inside, not really waiting for an answer from me. I looked around for Derek. He wasn't himself on those meds, he shouldn't be off by himself somewhere. I heard shouting from inside and raced back in. The shouts came from the basement.

"What is going on down here?" I asked coming down the steps.

"She's not here," Tess was close to tears and had the new man backed into a corner.

"I swear I left her down her attached to that post," he had his hands in the air. "You're a werewolf too Tess. Tell me that you don't smell her scent down here. Tell me you know that I've been telling the truth."

"Derek," I cut Tess off before she could say anything. "He's gone. He probably found her."

Tess' anger lessened, it was probable that the two missing people were together. But where?

**Derek's POV**

We arrived at the house. I knew I shouldn't have these meds in my system since we didn't know what we were walking into but it helped with the pain.

I sat there in the car for a second while they went into the house. Matt tapped on the window, he wanted us all out and ready for anything. My thoughts, obviously, were revolving around Chloe. Wherever she was, she was starving to death. I could feel it and it made me sick to my stomach that she was going through that.

I stepped out of the car and felt like I could practically smell Chloe. I wanted her back so bad my mind was playing tricks on me. But I noticed when a gust of wind took the imagined smell from me for a second. As it floated back my way, I knew it wasn't my imagination. It really was real. I looked around at the others. All standing around talking. And took my shot. I slipped around the side of the house before anyone noticed, my heart racing a thousand miles an hour. Could this really be?

I quickly rounded the side of the house, the scent got stronger here. I nearly tripped on a screen that laid in the lawn. It looked like the cover to the small opening in the wall. It seemed to lead to somewhere underneath the house and had Chloe's scent all around. I wanted to go in but I could never fit through the small hole.

I couldn't tell the others though, only I really knew what she was feeling right now.

Footsteps behind me broke my train of thought. Crap this was a trap. There were more of Nate's werewolves behind me weren't there?

Slowly I turned around. But instead, standing before me was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I've ever seen. It was Chloe. It really was her. I missed her so much. But her eyes were bloodshot with dark black and blue circles around them. Hungry fangs protruded from her mouth. Her skin was as pale as a piece of paper. Her clothes were dirty and torn up but her arms were behind her. She must have been restrained and locked up somewhere.

"Chloe?" My voice full of happiness and fear.

She made a sound that was a mix of a hiss and a growl and lunged at me. I quickly dodged out of the way and she fell over the discarded screen. Chloe couldn't stop herself from falling with her restrained arms.

"Oh baby, what has he done to you?"


	14. In the bunker

**Derek's POV**

I picked her up off the ground as I heard shouting inside. They were noticing she wasn't there. Chloe struggled against my grip. I couldn't let them see her like this. She isn't a monster.

The medicine made it a little harder to drag her along but I forced Chloe to go over to the werewolf bunker with me. I pushed her in gently and shut the door behind us. I knew they would come looking and this was an obvious place to start so I locked the door and wrapped the chains from the closet around the handles. The longer I could be alone with her, the better it would be.

I turned and faced the rabid Chloe. She growled at me.

"Chloe," I said gently. "I know you're in there somewhere."

She struggled against the restraint on her arms. "Screw off."

Well at least she was talking.

"Do you want that off?" I asked her.

"I want to kill you," she replied.

I tried to not let that cut me down. I told myself that wasn't her, that was whatever they did to her.

The needle tugged at my skin uncomfortably which gave me an idea.

"How about I help you instead?" I asked.

She took a suspicious step backwards.

"You need blood don't you?" I asked. "They've been starving you, I know."

I took a step towards her and extended my arm.

She watched me but didn't move.

"Go ahead," I said.

She didn't need to be told twice, instinct took over. She latched onto my arm. I hissed in pain but let her take my blood. The medicine would knock her out before she could drain me.

**Simon's POV**

Tess kept eyeing Elijah suspiciously. I leaned over to Dad.

"What's their history?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Not good it seems."

"Why would Derek take off?" Tess thought out loud.

Everyone shrugged. I cleared my throat.

"Cause he's not in his right mind right now."

"Well duh," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"No I mean he stole the meds from the hospital and has been on them since we left."

"And you're just now thinking that was important to share?" Dad glared at me.

"You were all in the car too, don't blame me for being the only one who noticed." I defended myself.

Dad didn't like me talking back but wasn't going to yell at me in front of everyone right now.

"Well let's split into search parties," Dad said. "Matt, you should stay at the house in case Derek comes back."

Matt chuckled, knowing it was because he wouldn't be much help with the searching. Crutches and wet dirt would not work well together.

We split up and started off in different directions around the property. I paired with Jeremy and Elijah to avoid being yelled at by Dad. As we started walking through the front yard I flat out asked him;

"So what happened between you and Tess? And how do you know Chloe?"

"I got adopted into their pack about a decade ago, they've had their eyes on her since she became werewolf."

"And Tess?" Jeremy asked, not allowing him to avoid the question.

He sighed, "We were partners some time ago...until I messed up...I left instead of owning up to my mistake..."

I was curious but didn't want to push it too far. I gave Jeremy a look to do the same.

"Can you find either of their scents?" I changed the subject.

Elijah shook his head, "The wind erases scents. I can't track them."

**Derek's POV**

Chloe laid slumped over against the wall. She wasn't unconscious but she was very out of it. I wrapped up my arm as best I could with Tess' supplies and knelt down in front of her. I felt exhausted from the meds and losing blood, but at least that meant we were on an even playing field.

I snapped my fingers. "Chloe."

She looked at me but was too out of it to recognize me.

"Yes sir."

"What are you doing?"

"Orders."

"From who?" I asked.

She tensed and didn't say anything.

"From who?" I pressed.

She growled at me. I decided to try something new since she didn't recognize me.

"Nate sent me," I said. "He wanted to make sure you were behaving as told."

Chloe immediately flinched like she was expecting to be hurt.

"You did good," I said. It pained me to say it but I would play along if it calmed her down for the moment.

She relaxed a little but was still on edge.

"He says if you behave you can have your restraints off."

"I will sir."

What was with this sir business? That really concerned me. I grabbed her shoulder as she leaned forward and Chloe let out a yelp. I immediately let go, not knowing if that was from an injury or fear.

Whatever this thing was on her arms, it took me a minute to figure out how to get it off. I stashed it in my pocket. She didn't try anything, the meds in her system were kicking her butt.

"Chloe?"

"Yes sir."

"What happened to you?"

She didn't respond, she just shook her head with a stonewall expression. I sighed, Nate did something horrible to her to make her this way. How on earth was I going to undo it?

"Do you know where you are?" I asked her.

She nodded.

"Do you know who Tess is?"

She nodded, her expression got darker. Angrier. So they hadn't wiped us from her memory, they turned her on us. Gently I took her hand and inspected all the bruises on her arm. She pulled it back from me, not because of pain, because of fear.

"Oh Chloe," I sighed. "I'm so sorry."


	15. Bunker pt 2

**Derek's POV**

I didn't know what to do to help her in all honesty. Which made me feel useless. We sat in silence as Chloe bobbed in and out of consciousness. The medicated blood setting in more and more.

The door jerked. Voices on the other side were frustrated that it wasn't opening. I froze, trying to figure out who's voice was who's but I couldn't make it out with Tess' thorough soundproofing. The sound of them trying to force the door open got Chloe's attention through her haze. She moved back from the door and started growling.

"No," I whisper yelled and put my hand around her mouth.

Bad move on my part, Chloe's fangs sunk into the palm of my hand. I gritted my teeth and kept my hand there to keep her quiet. They rattled the door for another minute before giving up. I waited a minute before letting go of Chloe and ripping my hand from her fangs. I swore under my breath and wrapped it up as quickly as possible.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I asked her. "They aren't going to be as understanding as me."

Chloe just chuckled and slid back down to her spot. I tried to think of a way to get through to her, pull out who she used to be. I closed my eyes and pictured one morning a few weeks ago. Waking up next to her sleeping so peacefully. I tried to get up to use the bathroom but she latched onto my arm. It was so cute. She refused to let me leave her alone.

I opened my eyes and Chloe just watched me. Blank soldier-like expression. I sighed, maybe it was time to bring in the others and see if they knew how to fix Nate's brainwashing.

Chloe cleared her throat and blinked at me.

"Chloe?" I asked. Thinking maybe I got through to her for a moment.

A few tears escaped her eyes and then she sank to the floor asleep.

I clenched my injured hand to force myself not to wake her up. I had her for a second but the meds took that away. I stared at the half empty bag and wanted to chuck it against the wall.

**Simon's POV**

We spent an hour searching the property edge to edge without success. When we went back to Tess' house, Matt asked us how it went.

"Nothing," I sighed. "They aren't on the property as far as we can tell."

"The bunker?" Tess asked as the rest of them came into the house.

We shook our heads.

"The doors locked."

"That doesn't mean that no one is in there," Tess replied.

"If the doors locked down how are we supposed to go inside and look?" Jeremy asked.

Tess rolled her eyes. "Break it down?"

Most of us were surprised by this response.

"You want us to break the door of your werewolf shelter because there's a chance that Chloe holed up in there?" Matt asked.

Tess nodded, "Doors are replaceable. She isn't."

"Alright," Elijah nodded and stepped back towards the door. Before leaving he said, "You still have that shed out back right?"

Tess shook her head, "No, tools are in the basement now instead."

Elijah grabbed me and went to the basement.

"Why am I coming with?" I asked as we walked down the stairs.

"Because its your family," he said. "You'll be able to get through to him better than a stranger."

Elijah opened the closet door and moved around the tools.

"Axe or crowbar?" He asked me.

"Crowbar," I said. "If someone's in there and they hear an axe coming after them, they'll think the worst."

Elijah smiled, "Smart kid."

He tossed it to me and started walking back towards the stairs. I had to admit I was a little intimidated by how it seemed I was picked as this new guy's favorite. I was still weary of him and if he was actually here for good reasons.

"You're not sure if you trust me still," he said as we walked.

I laughed nervous, "You caught me."

"That's why I let you carry the crowbar," he said. "You're armed, I'm not, so you know I'm not up to anything."

I had to admit that was clever and it kind of worked. I felt better being the one holding the weapon.

"Why didn't you want anyone else to come out with us?" I asked.

"If they're in there which seems likely; its better to approach with a less threatening amount of people."

We approached the door and moved grass out of the way. I handed the crowbar to him. Elijah looked at me like he thought I was testing him.

"You're the one with werewolf strength," I said. "You'll bust a lock way before I could."

He smiled and took it from me. He put it in the door crack and went to push. I grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait," I said. I knelt down and pressed my ear against the door and knocked. "Derek."

No response, at least that I could hear.

"Derek, its Simon," i said a little louder. "Let me in."

I swore I heard movement, I glanced up at Elijah to see if he heard it too. He leaned closer to the door.

"Derek," I said loudly again. "Come on."


	16. Bring her home

**Its so much fun to see your guys' opinions of Elijah lol! I wish I could tell you the reasons for bringing him in, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. I want to drop hints sooo bad! Its not fair lol**

**I apologize that this chapter is a bit heavier in dialogue, but it moves the story along.**

**Simon's POV**

After I called out again, I definitely heard movement inside the room. There was the sound of chains rattling as they were removed from the door. A heavy thud as the lock was undone and then the door opened a few inches. Derek looked pale and worried.

"What do you want?" He asked me, Derek noticed Elijah and eyed him suspiciously.

"Chloe's here," I said. "Elijah brought her back from Nate and the pack. But she got out, we're trying to find both of you."

I didn't think it was worth questioning right now why he decided to take off.

"I know, I heard you guys earlier. She's here."

I think Derek knew I was trying to avoid asking why he took off with her.

"You don't know the things that she's been through. I do. I want to bring her back before you guys see her."

"Bring her back?" I asked.

Elijah spoke up, "Nate turned her into a soldier to do his bidding, she's not right in the head. When I stepped in to get her out of there, they were sending her on a mission to kill a coven of witches."

By the look on Derek's face, this was news to him as well.

"She didn't get to go through with it right?"

Elijah shook his head, "No, she didn't."

I tried to look past Derek, but he hugged the doorway tightly.

"Derek, let me help."

He sighed and moved aside to let me step into the bunker. Derek refused to let Elijah in though. I stepped inside; Chloe laid against the far wall unconscious. She was dirty and covered in dried blood. My heart sank feeling horrible for her.

"Yeah," Derek said behind me. "Bad isn't it?"

I turned around and my eyes landed on the bandages.

"No, you didn't."

He chuckled quietly, "Yeah, I did. It's the only reason she's out right now."

Derek should not have put himself in harms way like that especially with what his body had just gone through. I wasn't going to lecture him right now though; he'd get enough of that when we got home. Right now, he just needed to feel like someone was on his side.

I walked over to Chloe and knelt down in front of her.

"I wouldn't get too close," Derek warned me.

"I'll be fine," I said. I reached out and lifted her chin. Asleep she looked like the same sweet Chloe under all that dirt and blood. I looked back at Derek. "This is going to be a team effort Derek. Let's take her home."

He nodded. How exhausted was he to not put up a fight? Or was he just grateful I wasn't trying to take her away from him. That I wanted him to help still. I slipped an arm under her shoulders and knees and lifted her up. Derek flinched, he wanted to be the one in contact with her.

"I've got her," I said. "You need to recover your strength."

He sighed, knowing I was right. Derek pocketed the medicine and held the door open for me. I didn't see if he put the needle back in or not though.

"Who are you?" Derek asked Elijah as we walked back.

"An old friend of Tess', I brought Chloe back to make amends for some stuff in our past."

"So you used her?" Derek replied.

Elijah shook his head, "I know how it can be twisted around to seem that way but no. I promise you. It was a mutually beneficial rescue. They didn't know about my connection to Tess, so they didn't see a problem with leaving her with me. I took the opportunity to help her. Chloe was suffering there and I hated it."

Derek still seemed iffy on Elijah but replied, "We appreciate what you did."

Elijah smiled at the recognition and held the door open for us when we got back to the house. Everyone was sitting in the living room. Tess and Dad jumped up from their seats when they saw us. They came over and started bombarding Derek by questioning him and yelling at him. He just stood there quietly with his head down.

"Hey," I interrupted, "Ease up, we've all been through a lot lately. Just be thankful that Derek caught Chloe before she got away. We would have lost her without him."

Tess threw her good arm around Derek to hug him. He gave me a small nod in thanks for the way I spun the story.

"Come on," I said to Derek when Tess let go. "Help me put her upstairs."

As we walked through the living room, you could almost see the tension leave. Chloe was back finally. Elijah offered to help Dad and Tess make something to eat for everyone. Jeremy and Rachel settled into the TV. Tori went off somewhere, I hoped to talk to Liz. Matt followed us upstairs. My arms were getting tired from carrying her and Derek was exhausted from medication and blood loss; so Matt didn't have a hard time keeping up with us on his crutches. When we got to the top of the steps, Derek spoke.

"What do you need?"

"I wanted to check on her myself, peace of mind knowing she's ok."

"Well she's not ok," Derek said blatantly. "The pack did something to her head."

"Did what to her head?" Matt asked looking at her.

"Brainwashing or something, she's been repeatedly trying to kill me."

We went in the girl's room and I set her down on her bed. Matt grabbed a washcloth and wet it before coming in the bedroom. He handed it to Derek to try to clean her up as best we could.

"I'm sorry you went through that," Matt said quietly. "We will fix this, I promise."

Derek sat beside her on the bed and gently started cleaning off her arms. At first I thought he was missing spots until I realized they were dark dark bruises.

"What're we going to do when she wakes up?" I asked. "She's going to go nuts again."

Derek shook his head, "Not necessarily, she was fine when she wasn't recognizing me."

"That was probably because you dosed her so her head wasn't working right. That medicine was meant for a guy of your size. You're lucky it didn't kill her. Once that's out of her system she'll recognize us and try to kill again."

"We treat this like a trauma patient," Matt interrupted before Derek could lash out at me for what I said.

Matt continued, "A while back I was scoping out a vampire nest in New Jersey. I volunteered at this trauma center that was their main target. This place took people who had been through traumatizing experiences and coaxed them out of their shell. I know that none of us are really trained and this situation is different, but we can at least try."

I nodded in agreement, it was a better plan then no plan.

I watched Derek gently play with her hair as he cleaned up her face and neck. I felt awful that these two keep getting put through situations over and over again. Someday we won't have to anymore. Someday we will live normal quiet lives. I hope.

**So do you guys want to read a chapter or two on them trying to treat her like a trauma center patient or do you guys want a time skip to the results? I can do either one, I want to see what you guys want.**


	17. Trauma patient

**Derek's POV**

We had to make sure that Chloe wouldn't hurt us while we were trying to help her so we cuffed her ankles to the bed frame. I hated it, it made me feel like we were no better than Nate and the pack. But Simon kept telling me that I was wrong, we were doing it to help her not hurt her, so we weren't like the pack. It was nice to have Simon during all of this, I would go mad if I didn't have him to talk to.

Simon and I sat against the closet door while Matt approached Chloe to attempt to start his trauma patient rehabilitation. She backed away from him as far as the cuffs let her and growled at him.

Matt stepped closer to her and there was a flicker in her eye. She lunged forward attempting to attack him but the cuff caught her ankle and she fell short.

"Stop that before you hurt yourself," Matt told her. "We don't need you breaking an ankle."

She growled at him. He stepped closer again, less than five feet from her now.

Matt turned and winked at us before he spoke. Trying to signal to us that what he was about to say was a hollow threat.

"Now you listen here," he said to her firmly. "I don't know if you know who I am." He took a step closer. "But I am the best damn vampire hunter on this continent." He stepped closer. "So shut up. Sit still. And listen before I slit your throat."

He took his final step to her, a foot from her face now. Fear was overcoming her soldier-ness now. She sat perfectly still, eyes wide with fear.

"Good," Matt nodded.

And that's how it went for the next couple of days. Matt would go in and scare her into being non-aggressive. No one liked him doing it but Matt insisted it would be easier to work back from a scared soldier than an aggressive soldier. He said that showing compassion to trauma patients was the best way he saw to bring them back to themselves over time and it was much easier to show compassion to a scared person than an angry person.

Matt did his scare and then he and Simon walked out. I hung back and shut the door so it was just me and Chloe in the room. It was nearing nine o'clock so I had some time before they noticed I was gone, everyone was getting ready for bed. She watched me walk over to her and started to inch backwards. I knelt down in front of her.

"Hi," I said.

She didn't respond. I quickly glanced back to make sure I locked the door. I did. I turned back to her.

"Still no conversation?"

No response. Chloe looked like she was on the verge of tears, she didn't know what I was going to do to her.

"You must be hungry," I said. We'd only been giving her regular food, we had no idea where to find blood.

I rolled up my sweatshirt sleeve and extended my arm out to her. She flinched.

"No no, its ok." I spoke calmly. Trying to build trust. "Go ahead. Remember the underground room? I'm not going to hurt you if you take some."

Chloe swiftly grabbed my arm and bit. I could see the hunger disappear from her eyes. After a minute I pulled my arm back from her and handed her a washcloth.

"Feel better?" I asked.

Chloe nodded.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked her, getting up and sitting on the bed beside her. Testing the boundaries, she did move back from me.

Chloe nodded, a tear escaping her eye. She had one hand cleaning her face and the other hugging her lets tightly to her chest.

"Can you tell me?" I asked.

"You're the bad man," Chloe said angrily.

"Says who?" I asked. "I've only been helping you."

"My Alpha."

"Did you know he's my alpha too? But he doesn't want anything to do with me."

I'm not sure if Chloe believed me or not. When she handed me back the washcloth, I noticed a fresh scar on her hairline. That wasn't there before she got taken. I wrapped the washcloth around my wound and pushed my sweatshirt sleeve back down.

Downstairs I found Matt, Dad, and Elijah talking at the table. I cleared my throat as I walked up.

"What?" Dad asked.

"This might not be fixable like Matt thought," I said. "She's got scars on her scalp. They did something more than just beat her. They physically messed with her head."

Everyone looked to Elijah who had gone very pale.

"What did they do?" Dad asked him.

"They...they..." he couldn't get the words out.

"What did they do?!" Dad raised his voice.

"Its not they," Elijah shot back. "Its her. Sylvia. That's one of her favorite tricks when she's alone with victims." He put his head down on the table. "She's an evil genius, she knows exactly where to stick rods and needles to mess with people's brains."

"What?!" came from all of us.

"Why didn't you tell us that sooner?" I demanded.

"I had no idea!" Elijah defended himself. "I worked grounds, how was I supposed to know how often Chloe was left alone with her?"

He had a fair point, I shouldn't misdirect my anger at him.

"How do we fix it?" I asked.

Before Elijah could answer, Tess came around the corner in a bathrobe.

"What the heck is with all the yelling? People are trying to sleep."

"Chloe's worse than we thought," Matt said. "They physically messed with her brain."

Tess gasped in horror. "There has to be a way to fix it. Right?"

Elijah sighed, "Only one that I know of, its a slim chance, and its not pretty."

**Plot twisttttt lol therapy isn't going to work, they're gonna have to do something else. But what exactly does Elijah not want to have to do?  
**


	18. needles

**Derek's POV**

Elijah sighed, "Only one that I know of, its a slim chance, and its not pretty."

I didn't care if it wasn't pretty. It was a chance to actually save her, we were finally catching up to what the pack really did.

"What is it?" I asked.

Elijah wouldn't make eye contact with anyone.

"The only way I've seen it undone is by doing the same thing and trying to reverse the damage."

Tess went pale, the first to really understand what he meant.

"You are not sticking needles and rods into that poor girl's brain."

Elijah looked at her, "You think I'd want to do that? He asked so I answered. That's the only way I've seen it undone."

"I'm gonna be sick," Tess turned and walked away.

I looked over to Matt, "Can I talk to you privately?"

Matt nodded and got up on his crutches, we went out the door to the back porch.

"What is it?" Matt asked.

"Look," I sighed. "I don't want that to happen to her. But if that's our only option, there's ways to make it easier..."

I explained to Matt what I had done behind their backs, feeding her blood and trying to talk to her. Matt was appalled that I was giving her blood. He told me that I was rebuilding her strength and risking her getting away again. I didn't argue with him about what I had done, that's not why I wanted to talk to him alone. I told him about the bunker, how she went unconscious when she had my drugged blood because, like Simon said, it was a dosage for a high metabolism big guy like me not a little girl like her. If we were going to do this to her, I didn't want to see it go down. I couldn't bare it, keeping me medicated would keep me out of their way; and giving my blood to Chloe would stop her from trying to fight them. A win win to make the situation a little less horrid.

Matt didn't like it but he saw my point and told me he would consider it with the others, but it was a matter for the morning. For now we all needed to try to get what sleep we could.

When Matt and I came back in, the group had dispersed to their rooms for the night. I walked up to the girls' room, Tess had been sleeping with Rachel lately. She didn't want to risk Chloe doing something in her sleep and no one blamed her. I stepped inside, shut and locked the door behind me. Chloe watched me from her bed, waiting for me to start yelling like Matt would.

"I'm not here to scare you," I said.

She flinched when I spoke. I stepped into the room more and sat down on Tori's bed. Giving Chloe the room she needed to feel safe.

"Can you speak?" I asked her.

Chloe shook her head and rubbed a bruise on her arm. Needles to the brain or not, they did still abuse her and that was going to take time to come back from. I didn't know why I came in here, maybe it was because I didn't know what tomorrow held, or maybe I hoped that I would come up here and everything would magically be alright, or I don't know. I got up and went back to my room. As I laid down in my bed, my shoulder twitched violently from the stress.

No not now, I tried to convince myself. Just go to sleep. Just sleep. You won't change if you can relax enough to sleep.

Morning came eventually. I barely slept through the night, but I made it through without changing. By the looks of it, no one slept through the night. Everyone had dark circles under their eyes as they drank coffee. Tess must have had the same problem as me, she sat at the table gripping her mug hard, Elijah gently rubbed her shoulders as they twitched like mine. I wasn't sold on him yet, but maybe he wasn't such a bad guy. He seemed to care about Tess a lot. Like I cared about Chloe.

I rubbed the fresh scar from the hammer, worried that if I changed the wound would reopen. Simon and Matt interrupted my thoughts.

"You're sure about this?" Simon asked me. I guess Matt filled him in.

I nodded, "Chloe needs to be sedated for this to work smoothly and we can't just force her to take it." and in my head I added, and I need to be sedated before I lose it and someone gets hurt.

"Follow me then," Matt said.

Simon and I did. He walked us to the bathroom and while balancing on his crutches he pulled out a little black leather bag as we shut the door. It was a little cramped in there for three people but none of us cared right now. I handed Matt the remains of my stolen medication, there was less than a quarter of the bag left. Matt pulled the needle off the bag and replaced it with one from his black leather bag. He cleaned up my arm with an alcohol swab and then looked at me and Simon.

"This needle is better than the one you had, the medication will go in faster. It gives us less time but a higher dosage since there's not much left. Are you positive you don't want us to just give it directly to her? We could use your help."

"This is me helping," I said. "Just do it."

Simon didn't really say anything, I think he knew where I was coming from with this. He's seen before how I can lose my cool if someone hurts Chloe.

Matt stuck the needle in, taped it down, and the clock starts ticking. Simon and I went upstairs while I still could on my own. We sat in the hallway outside Chloe's door.

"How do you feel?" Simon asked.

I watched the medicine slowly disappear from the bag.

"Scared," I said honestly. Simon was one of the few I could admit that to. "What if they can't help her? What if they do something wrong and she's gone forever?"

Simon gave a reassuring smile, "Have you not meet our little family? No one's ever gone forever and we always help each other. They won't mess up Derek, and even if by some small chance they do? We fix it. That's what we do."

I could feel my limbs start to get a little heavy, it was getting into my system now.

"I hope you're right," I said.

**So I didn't think that this build up was going to be so lengthy, I had planned on this chapter being the chapter where they do it. But if I continued then this chapter would be like 3,000 words long and that seems a bit too much. Its written and ready to be posted though!**


	19. Elijah's handiwork

**Derek's POV**

Everything is set up that they need to help Chloe, Elijah and Dad decided they wanted to do it in the living room downstairs where they had the most room to work with so Simon had to help me back downstairs. By then I was slipping in and out of consciousness and hearing about half of what people were saying. Matt would come over and give the bag a squeeze to push the medication in faster.

**Simon's POV**

Derek was bobbing in and out of it on the living room couch. As Matt pushed the last of it through the needle, he nodded at me. Time to grab Chloe. I sent Jeremy upstairs to get her, she hadn't reacted to him in a violent way yet, just her stonewall soldier way. Nate's brainwashing had been centered around our main group. Jeremy came down the stairs with her blindfolded. They sat her down in a chair, no restraints yet. We had to get her to willingly drink the blood.

I walked over to Derek, snapping my fingers in his face. He was out cold. I looked over at Chloe, she was starting to growl and hiss as she recognized scents. I pulled the needle from Derek's arm and scratched him with it. Not enough to do any serious damage but enough to draw blood and get Chloe's attention.

Blood weld up and dripped down his arm, she almost immediately caught the scent and leapt from the chair. Almost everyone had to look away at what came next. We waited until she started to go limp. Elijah and Dad grabbed her and brought her back to the chair, strapping on wrist and ankle restraints just for extra precaution.

I pulled her hair back so we could see as many of the scars as possible and get a sense of what we needed to do. Elijah pulled the cloth off of a silver tray on the table, it was full of long sterilized needles. Tess looked like she was going to be sick.

"Most of you will want to leave for this," Elijah said. And almost everyone did. Matt stayed on the couch, he couldn't do much help standing. I stayed, I didn't know if I would have the stomach for it but I needed to be there. For her and Derek.

Elijah looked at me, "Alright assistant Simon. I'm going to need you to do something kind of dark."

I nodded though I didn't like the sound of that.

He handed me a small scalpel off his tray.

"I'm almost positive that she's out for good. But we need to be prepared in the case she wakes up. Take this and make a small cut into your brother's arm. Put a bowl or cup or something underneath it to catch the blood."

I did as I was told, I could tell by Matt's expression that he didn't like my task any more than I did. Elijah got to work on Chloe, I could imagine the screams of this happening to her while she was awake.

It seemed like forever the needles went in and around and out, in around out, repeat repeat on all the little scars.

"How do we know if its working?" Matt asked him.

"We won't until she's awake again," Elijah replied honestly.

Elijah had me keep doing little tasks for him as he worked, cleaning up her blood, sterilizing the equipment, making sure Derek was still alive, whatever he needed.

At one point, while Elijah's back was to Chloe, her head bobbed forward and jerked back suddenly. I knew that was a normal thing for when a person's asleep but it seemed like a much more violent jerk than it should have.

"What're you looking at?" Elijah asked me as he switched into a new pair of surgical gloves.

"She just did something weird with her head," I said.

I looked back at Matt to see if he saw it too but he didn't. Elijah watched her for a second but she didn't do anything.

"What did she do?" He asked.

I lifted her chin slightly upward and let go, her head bobbed down and did the violent jerk back up again. Both of them blinked surprised.

"Good eye," Elijah smiled.

I had to admit that it was a bit unnerving to see him smile in a setting like this.

"What is it?" Matt asked, getting up from the couch.

Elijah said a few words about Sylvia under his breath before answering Matt.

"That would be Sylvia's...lets call it a back up plan or emergency preparedness..."

Elijah adjusted his gloves and stepped behind Chloe.

"A needle left behind," he said as he inspected the back of Chloe's head. "In patients of hers with delicate states. To ensure that all her precious work is held together exactly how she wants it to be. A needle to act as a safety precaution that her success rate is 100% with those she tortures."

The smile on his face grew as his hands stopped moving.

"The thinnest pair of pliers my boy," he requested.

I grabbed them from the tray and handed them to him. Elijah opened up the surrounding skin a little more with a scalpel and then took the pliers to the area. There was the faint sound of metal touching metal and then Elijah's hand started backing away from Chloe's head. A long needle was carefully pulled and pulled. It seemed to go on forever before it finally fell out onto the floor.

Elijah looked at me, "You're a genius Simon. We wouldn't have caught that without you."

"H-how did you know?" Matt was still astonished.

"The placing of that needle is dangerously close to the part of the brain that controls reflexes. When their heads move a certain way and the needle touches it, their reflexes do exactly what she did."

So he'd seen it before in another one of Sylvia's soldiers. Elijah picked it up from the floor and set it and the pliers on the tray. He walked over to Derek and took the cup. Brought it to Chloe and poured it into her mouth.

"She'll need that," he said. "Her head needs time to rewire and heal." He hands the cup back to me and gestures to Derek. "Again."

"He's not a juice box," I argue.

"Yes he is," Elijah rolled his eyes. "He volunteered for it."

"And I volunteer to watch over him," I said. "So this is the last one."

**I know I've been neglecting Tori's story line a little lately but her and Liz's little plan will come back into the story soon I promise.**


	20. Security blanket

**So I wrote and rewrote and rewrote this chapter, I still don't feel like its exactly how I want it to be. But here it is.**

**Derek's POV**

Being a werewolf meant your hearing was way above average, even when you are asleep. I had no idea what time it was when I heard something in the room. Tori didn't have an alarm clock I could see. I groggily looked around but didn't see anything that was out of place. As I rested my head back down I heard the sound again as my blanket moved. It was someone whispering my name. I rolled over and came face to face with Chloe, wrapped tightly in her blanket, sitting on the floor beside the bed. She was in tears, pulling on my blanket to wake me up.

I had to force myself not to make any sudden movements. I didn't want to scare her.

"You're awake," I said trying to hide my smile.

I sat up in the bed and moved over so she could sit beside me. I wrapped my arms around her tightly and pulled her close. Wiping away the tears on her cheeks.

"Whats wrong?" I asked.

She didn't respond to me at first, she just laid against me quietly crying. I just held her and let her let it out. After a few minutes she spoke.

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?" I asked.

"Only bits and pieces."

"We've been trying to bring you home for some time," I explained. "Nate's had you captive."

"What did he do to me?" She asked.

I brushed another tear off her cheek, "Later. You're ok and thats what matters. Why're you crying?"

"Everyone hates me don't they? They're scared of me."

I shook my head, "No no. Why would you think that?"

She started crying again. There must have been something while she was with Nate that she remembers.

"Shhh," I said quietly. "We love you."

Chloe was definitely emotionally broken but she was back.

"You do?" She asked.

The surprise in her voice caught me off guard.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I...remember you..."

I chuckled quietly, "There was no way you were taking me down on your own. I admire you trying though."

"You should hate me for it."

I shook my head, "Never."

I wrapped her blanket around her feet where it had fallen off. We sat in silence for most of the remaining night, Chloe didn't want to talk about what she had been through and I was not going to push it. I let her cry it out as I held her. Happy to have her in my arms again.

After a while, I heard her stomach growl.

"Let's get you something to eat," I said. "What're you hungry for?"

Chloe thought for a minute.

"I just want cereal," she said.

We went downstairs, Chloe brought the blanket with her. She was gripping it like it was grounding her to reality. I sat her up on the counter and looked out at the rising sun.

"It's a new day," I said as I placed a kiss on her forehead. "Everything gets to hit the reset button."

I turned to grab the milk from the fridge and Chloe's arm jumped from the blanket on to me.

"Don't leave me." She was almost in tears again.

"It's ok," I reassured her. "I'm just going to the fridge. I'm not leaving you Chloe."

She let go of me and I got her bowl of cereal together. Her eyes were on me the entire time like I might disappear. She must think this was all a dream. I came back to her and handed it to her.

"You'll have to let go of the blanket," I said.

I swore her hands started to shake.

"I have an idea," I said.

I picked her up with my good arm and the bowl of cereal with my injured hand and brought them out to the back porch. Seated Chloe in my lap where I could hold the blanket tight for her as she ate. Chloe scarfed it down as quick as she could.

"Have you not ate in a month?" I teased. I didn't know how it would go but I wanted to subtly test the boundaries.

Chloe didn't say anything to me, her focus was on the door. Someone else was up and moving around inside.

I took the bowl from her and set it beside us.

"Hey hey," I said softly. "It's alright. It's probably just my Dad. He's leaving this morning for a trip."

Chloe continued her death grip on the blanket.

"Do you want to say hi or stay out here?" I asked.

"Stay," Chloe could not have said it any faster.

I massaged her shoulder, "Then you have to calm down before you burst a blood vessel or change. You're too tense."

Chloe tried to relax but couldn't, her anxiety was through the roof.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I sighed.

"Don't leave," she begged.

I nodded, "Of course Chloe, I promise."

The door opened and if I hadn't been holding onto Chloe's blanket, she would have jumped out of her skin and ran off. Simon emerged, a huge smile on his face.

"Chloe," he shut the door behind him.

Simon approached slowly, unsure of what state she was in. He sat in the chair across from us.

"How are you feeling?" Simon asked.

Chloe clung to me as hard as she could.

"She's fine," I said. "Just needs some time to adjust."

I wrapped a protective arm around her that seemed to make her relax a tad.

"Take all the time you need," Simon nodded. "I'm just happy to have you back safe and sound."

Simon seemed concerned for her, I don't know what he was expecting her to be like when she woke up, but it didn't seem to be this.

Simon caught me off guard with his next question.

"How about you," he said to me. "How are you doing?"

I did not expect anyone to ask me. I didn't know what to say. I just stammered and shrugged. Simon chuckled.

"Dad's going to make some breakfast before he leaves," he said. "Do either of you want some?"

We both nodded.


	21. A walk

**She most likely would have some form of PTSD, you guys are right. I just didn't want to drag it out for too long.**

**What would you guys say to having a small section of an upcoming chapter from Nate's POV? See what's going on over there. Or would you guys rather wait until they re-enter the story. (That's not a spoiler alert! I haven't a clue how they would be brought back in since I already have the next story arch plotted in my head.)**

**Also what would you guys say to having the story take on a magic-ish tone when Simon and Tori get their storyline up and running. Having them doing cool magic stuff? **

**Chloe's POV**

I remembered Nate poisoning me and then bits and pieces here and there and then waking up in my bed with the worlds worst headache. This had to be a dream, family or not why would these guys forgive me so easily? I did awful things. Maybe Derek didn't tell them... maybe they have no idea what I tried to do to him...

Kit and Rachel left, Derek said that Kit would be back in a few days. It was just Derek and Simon with me for a while, which I could handle. I couldn't help but get more and more tense as more people got up. I was not ready to be around that many people at once. I could feel the muscles moving in my back and Derek picked up on it too.

"Calm down before you force yourself to change," he whispered to me.

"Trying to," I told him.

Simon stepped in trying to help, "Why don't we go for a walk around the property while everyones getting breakfast? You look like you need some air."

I nodded, some air might be nice. Give me some space from the crowd in the kitchen. I stood up and looked back at Derek who didn't move.

"Go ahead," he said. "You know you can trust Simon."

I didn't want to leave the safety of Derek but I knew that I would have to eventually. I dropped the blanket and gripped my pajamas pockets instead. I walked down with Simon. He smiled at me.

"Feel better?" He asked as we walked out.

"Tess is probably having a fit that I'm out here," I said.

He chuckled, "Probably. So you really don't remember much?"

"Barely," I shrugged.

"Probably for the best," Simon said. "Know what I mean? You probably don't want to remember the things that went down."

I nodded.

"You know," Simon said. "I don't know if you've seen Kyle or Liz yet but they lead us to you. I mean, Elijah had already brought you here but still. We found where you'd been because of them. "Give them thanks from me. From all of us."

I was glad to have the conversation diverted to someone else.

"I will. But how'd they know?"

"Liz tracked down Kyle. He'd been with you the whole time. He made sure that you were never alone."

I smiled, "That's really sweet of him."

"Thanks," came from behind us.

I jumped towards Simon who immediately grabbed onto me protectively.

"What?" He asked looking around for the source of my sudden scare.

Kyle came walking around us and waved.

"It was just Kyle," I relaxed.

Simon smiled, "Like Beetlejuice, we said his name too many times."

Kyle chuckled, "I've always liked this guy's sense of humor."

I tried to relax and keep walking with the two but I was still extremely tense. I did not need that scare.

"Is Liz here too?" Simon asked.

I looked around, "Not that I can see."

"Oh she's inside talking to Tori about some secret mission she was sent on."

Secret mission? I wondered what that was about. But I know I have enough on my plate already, I wasn't going to go snooping around in Tori's business.

"She's inside, Kyle said," I told Simon.

He tried to hide a small smile on his face but I caught it. He knew something about this secret mission I bet.

"Its a shame you two can't talk," I sighed. "You two would be best friends."

Simon smiled, "Well, maybe some day we will be able to talk."

Was I being paranoid or was that a comment on him dying? Or was that the secret these guys were working on? Were they going to bring Kyle and Liz back from the dead? But that would be impossible.

"You alright?" Simon asked me, squeezing my hand.

I didn't notice until now that Simon had been holding my hand to comfort me as we walked.

I nodded and lied, "Just cold."

"Why don't we head back then?" He suggested. "Get you back in that blanket."

I tensed as I glanced back towards the house, my anxiety rose thinking about all the people over there.

"I think Matt would really like to say hi," Simon said. "He's missed you."

I took a deep breath and held onto his hand tightly, "Alright."

We started walking back towards the house, Derek was exactly where he was when we left. The only difference was that he had a plate of food and coffee in front of him. He eyed us holding hands as we came up. Simon rolled his eyes at Derek.

"Don't go getting jealous over nothing."

Simon sat in his seat across from Derek and I sat beside him. The door opened and Derek grabbed onto my arm to stop me from running off. Matt came out the door on crutches.

"Simon," he said. "Tori's been looking for you. She needs your help with a homework assignment or something."

I refrained from rolling my eyes, yeah 'homework assignment' sure.

Matt waited for Simon to go inside before looking over at me.

"Chloe," he nodded in my direction.

"What happened?" I deflected the attention off me.

"I took a sword to the leg," Matt chuckled. "My own mistake."

I was glad he wasn't making me answer the questions, how are you, how are you feeling, what do you remember, etc. He was just having a conversation with me.

"Aren't you a sword genius though?" I asked.

Matt sat down in a chair and let the crutches fall to the ground with a thud that made me jump.

"I wouldn't say that but others might," he shrugged. "Though I'm no match against my own sword I guess."

Derek finally joined in the conversation, "I'm no match against a hammer either though."

I shook my head at the two, what on earth had I missed?

They noticed my look and told me the story of going to Nate's place.

**Ya know, sometimes I think the way I write is influenced by the music that I'm listening too cause when I wrote this and reading it before posting, the scene with Matt and Chloe is different.**


	22. A grimoire and a proposition

**Simon's POV**

I went inside, grabbed an apple from the counter and headed upstairs. Knocked on Tori's door and waited. After a minute of scrambled noises, she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Oh," she said. "You could have said it was you so I didn't put everything away."

"I know I could've," I nodded and stepped past her into the room. "Liz is here I assume."

A pencil spun across the floor, I chuckled.

"So what do you have for us?" I asked the pencil.

Tori locked the door and sealed the room like when we brought Derek in here to talk. No one outside it would be able to hear a thing and no one could get in. The pencil went to work writing on a new piece of paper.

Once Tori was done she pulled something out from under her bed. It was a large leather bound book with worn symbols etched into the leather. I leaned towards it trying to make the symbols out as I started eating my apple, but they were too worn.

"Is that the whole grimoire?" I gawked. "Liz was only supposed to get the one spell."

Tori nodded, "Yeah, it is."

Before I could ask more questions, the paper was slid over to me and Tori. It read: It took me a long time to find this witch. I'm sorry. I watched over her for a while. She was a bit if a hermit so this book was always around her line of sight or locked up. I couldn't go flipping through the pages in front of her. Eventually I saw where she kept her keys and took the key to the cabinet where she kept the grimoire. Since I couldn't look through it with her home I placed a letter in her mail that made it look like her mother was in need of a kidney transplant right away. She needed to go come home. I didn't know if it was going to work but it did. She left that day. I wonder if her family doesn't know about her practicing magic because she didn't take anything witchy with her. Either way, we lucked out again. I was worried about her taking the grimoire with her. It didn't even seem to cross her mind though. Anyways, she left. I got the book out of the cabinet and tried to find the spell. I think its the fourth spell in the book. But I wasn't sure. So I decided to take the whole thing. Because the right spell could be used, because I was able to move it without her seeing, and because there's a lot of interesting spells that can be very useful. Now, bringing that all the way back here without people seeing a floating old book was a challenge. But that's a story for another time.

Once we finished reading, Tori started flipping through pages to find the fourth spell. All I could do was say:

"Wow Liz. I don't know how, but we will repay you."

The paper flipped over and Liz wrote, 'I do. But that's for later. Let's do your spell first.'

I read that last sentence twice. Let's do your spell first. Was she saying that there was a spell in there that she wanted too? Or was I reading into it too much?

Tori flipped through the pages for a few minutes.

"I think she's right about it being the fourth one. It seems to be the only one that mentions non-magic."

"Non-magic?" I questioned.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Non-magic. People who don't have access to magic."

"I have access though," I point out.

"Limited access," Tori corrects me. "Very limited. We can try this one, treating you as a non-magical person. Or we can take the grimoire down to the adults to consult them, and have it taken away from us."

I rolled my eyes at her ultimatum.

"Alright fine but if this kills me, I'm going to haunt the crap out of you."

Tori nodded smiling, "Fair enough. Shall we get started?"

She grabbed a piece of paper and started copying down things we needed.

**Chloe's POV**

After hearing their stories, I felt horrible that these guys went through so much for me. I could never repay them for all of it.

"You don't have to repay us," Derek said to me. He must have been able to hear my thoughts again.

I wanted to change the subject but couldn't come up with anything to say. Goosebumps covered the back of my neck as another cold breeze came through, winter was definitely almost here.

"Derek," Matt said. "Would you mind refilling my coffee?"

I knew he just wanted a moment to talk to me alone. Derek picked up on it too, he took Matt's mug and went inside.

Matt leaned forward, keeping his voice low from eavesdroppers.

"Chloe, I'm going to skip the how are you feeling and all those questions and get to the point. Ok? My time left at this safe house is limited. With the vampires nest dead, I don't need to hide anymore. If it weren't for my leg, I would be kicked out of here already."

"Tess won't make you leave," I frowned.

"Tess isn't the one in charge of stuff like that," Matt explained. "Even though its her house, its the rules that I have to move on soon."

"Why're you telling me?" I asked. I didn't want him to go obviously, he'd been a father figure to me, but what was he getting at?

"You and your friends are talented," Matt said. "I want your family to come with me. Leave the Edison Group in your past, come work with me on adventures. Going places you guys have never even dreamed of. Meeting powerful people you guys didn't know could exist. I would never separate you from your family Chloe, I want all of you to come with me, live a life of epic adventures. I could be wrong but I don't think you guys are that happy sitting around this house day after day. The monotony is murder I know. Come with me."

I had no idea what to say to that bombshell. I just stared at him.


	23. blood?

Derek came out with the cups of coffee and set one down in front of Matt.

He looked over at me concerned, "You ok?"

I nodded slowly, "Yeah."

Kyle shook his head, "No she's not. She just got her life back and this guys trying to turn it upside down."

I glared at Kyle to be quiet. Matt wasn't trying to turn anything upside down. He wanted to keep all of us together. Matt sipped his coffee not saying anything, just watching me.

"You sure nothings bothering you?" Derek asked.

It was but wasn't a lie, because it wasn't what bothered me right now but it had been nagging me in the back of my head.

"Why am I not hungry?" I asked.

"You just ate a bit ago," Derek replied.

"No, I mean vampire-wise. Since I came back I haven't been."

Matt leaned forward intrigued.

"But you still have your abilities?" He asked.

I nodded, as far as I knew.

"Did Elijah do something?" Derek asked Matt.

"Who's this Elijah you guys keep talking about?" I asked.

Matt picked up his crutches, "Chloe can you handle being around a bunch of people for a bit? We should get everything out on the table all at once. Put everyone on the same page."

I didn't seem to have much of a choice, so I nodded. I grabbed onto Derek's hand tightly and we all stepped inside. Simon and Tori were nowhere to be seen so they must still be up to whatever they were doing with Liz. Everyone else was sitting in the living room as we rounded the corner. A strange man sat beside Tess with his arm up on the couch behind her, this was probably the Elijah everyone was talking about. She looked up from the television program and smiled at me.

"Chloe," she tried to stand up but Elijah put a hand on her shoulder.

He looked at me and I shrunk against Derek. Not because I was afraid of him, it was just the amount of people around me. This guy had a calming presence to him, a trustable soft look to his eyes.

"It's ok," he whispered to me but didn't try to pull me off of him. "This is Elijah, he took you away from the pack."

Was I supposed to say thank you or something? I Just stared at him.

Tess obviously wanted to ask me how I was doing and all of those questions but she knew I'd been asked them so many times already. She stood up slowly and came over to us. Matt stepped further into the living room and took a seat so I wouldn't be crowded. Kyle stood behind Derek and I, wanting to be close but out of the way.

She walked up to me and wrapped me in a hug as best she could with her injured arm. Tess held me tight and shook ever so slightly like she was trying not to cry.

"I missed you so much," she said. "I'm so happy that you're home."

Unable to get words out, I just nodded. Derek tapped Tess on the shoulder and she finally let go of me. She planted a kiss on my forehead before going back to her seat.

"Elijah," Matt spoke. "I don't mean this to sound accusing but did you do anything to Chloe that we should know about?"

Elijah shook his head, seeming surprised by this.

"Could anything have happened by mistake?" Matt pressed.

Elijah nodded, "Yes of course, anyone with a brain would know that what I did could have messed her up in a multitude of ways if even the slightest thing went wrong. Why?"

"She's not wanting blood anymore," Matt said.

Elijah was intrigued, "Really? I guess that's on the good side of mistakes."

I didn't like being talked about like I wasn't here but I also didn't want to be involved in the conversation right now. I just focused on a loose string on Derek's sleeve. Whenever I looked up, Tess was watching me with a smile, so happy to have me back.

"Have you tried instigating the hunger?" Elijah asked.

Derek's grip on me got tight.

"Why the hell would we do something like that?"

"So you know now if it will continue to be a problem," Elijah explained. "Would you rather know if she was still bloodthirsty now in a safe environment or the next time you are bleeding to death?"

Derek didn't like it one bit whether he saw Elijah's logic or not.

"Derek," said Matt. "It's Chloe's choice not yours."

Kyle came up beside me where I could see him, "What do you say? It's completely your call, don't let them tell you otherwise."

I nodded, Kyle was right. But this was something we should know sooner rather than later. I looked at Matt and nodded.

Derek wouldn't let go of me as Elijah pulled out a pocket knife. He cut the back of his hand and put the knife away quickly. I wondered if he was trying to prove to the others that he was trustworthy because no one would stop to put a knife away as their hand was bleeding.

Everyone was watching me but I just watched his hand, I didn't feel any hunger for it. I just worried about the blood staining the couch. Derek chuckled and his grip on me lessened.

"What?" Matt asked.

"She doesn't want it staining the couch," Derek smiled. He must have heard my thoughts again. That was still taking some getting used to.

Elijah smiled and chuckled too.

"She's alright then."

He stood up to go to the bathroom and clean up his hand.

A thud came from upstairs, everyone looked around.

"They must have dropped the computer," Matt said.

I tried to stop it before it came out but I snorted a laugh.

"What?" Tess asked me.

"They aren't working on homework," I said.

"Chloe!" Kyle exclaimed. "It's a secret!"


	24. Magic spells

**Simon's POV**

Tori went downstairs to get the list of ingredients that she needed. She told me and Liz to stay because having all of us searching for these things would raise suspicion. I took a piece of paper from Liz's stack and doodled pictures of the symbols on it that I could make out. Most of them were too worn though.

Tori was gone for almost ten minutes, when she came back her sweatshirt pocket was bulging with stuff and she had a bowl in hand. She laid them out on the floor in front of the wooden bowl. Bones from an animal, my guess was a bird. Some sort of red powder and gray powder. Twigs and other things. I wanted to ask where she managed to find this stuff but she got right down to business before I could. She started chanting something she read from the book and putting them in the bowl in a specific order. I, and I'm assuming Liz, watched closely. Tori chanted something and then pulled a small knife from under the bed. She cut her fingertip with it and let the blood drip into the bowl. Tori wiped the blade off on her jeans and then held her hand out to me.

Hesitantly I gave her my hand. I wished she would have explained this to me before getting down to it. She cut my fingertip and let the blood drip into the bowl. I hissed in pain, trying not to interrupt her. Tori chanted the same weird phrase again as she pulled a small book of matches out from under the bed. She chanted and lit a match and dropped it into the bowl.

The contents of the bowl went up in flames but the flames never caught anything else on fire. The temperature in the room plummeted. Like the magic fire was drawing in all the heat from the room. Tori took my still outstretched hand and chanted a new phrase from the book. Before I could question what she was doing, she pulled both of our hands down into the flames of the bowl. I jerked back expecting pain but Tori held my hand in place. Forcing me to realize the flames were not hurting me. My pinkie stung slightly as a black star was etched onto it by the magic. I looked and saw the same star on Tori's pinkie.

The flames disappeared and all that remained was our hands and ashes. I stared at Tori.

"There you go," Tori said.

"You could have warned me," I tried to keep my voice from yelling.

"The instructions say not to," Tori shrugged

I don't know how much I believed her there, it wasn't unlike her to mess with me when she could.

"Come on, let's test it." She said.

I looked around the pieces of paper for any sign of Liz communicating but they were all blank. Whatever the spell did, it must have pushed her out of the room in the process. Or she was in just as much shock as me.

"So we are like bound by blood now or something?" I asked.

Tori rolled her eyes. Her signature look.

"Stop over thinking it and let's find out if it worked or not."

"How?" I asked.

"Try a spell," she said. "Levitation. Try to lift the bowl."

I focused on the bowl and started muttering a levitation spell. It shook and flipped upside down.

"Oh my god," I laughed. "It did!"

Tori smiled happy with her work, "You need to work on your skills. But yes, it did."

I grabbed Tori and hugged her. Almost in tears.

**Nate's POV (Note that this would be happening a while ago, not at the same time as the events above.)  
**

I woke up to a massive headache. My body hurt all over though to be fair. I sat up and groaned as I rubbed my eyes. Something stung them so I wiped them off with my sleeve. It was dirt. My hands were covered in it. I looked around, my pack was laying about unconscious or in pain. In the muddy trees outside our home.

How the hell did I let a bunch of magic freaks beat us?! This was unacceptable.

My leg shook as my anger rose but I pushed it back down. Now was not the time to be a wolf. Now was the time to make someone pay.

I forced myself to stand and walk over to where Sylvia laid. I shook her until she woke up.

"What happened?" She asked.

"We were beat," I growled helping her to her feet.

"How long have we been out?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "Let's get everyone inside."

One by one we helped the pack members into the house, everyone seemed mostly ok. But there was people missing.

"What do you think happened to them?" Ron asked me as he held an ice pack to his forehead.

"Deserted or taken," I shrugged. "Either way, not our problem."

"You can't be serious," Sylvia said.

"Look, our main focus right now should be finding out where Chloe and Elijah are. He managed to pull her out from under our noses. You two know him, he's protective, he's still with her somewhere."

Ron leaned back in his seat and groaned.

"What?" I asked.

"Can't you give it a rest with this girl already? Is having a tri-brid on our team that important?"

I growled at him. "Yes it is that important. She'll be miserable with anyone besides our pack anyways with Sylvia's programming."

Sylvia shrugged, "Unless Elijah knows a way to deprogram her."

"Has that ever been done successfully?" Ron asked.

I slammed my hand on the counter.

"It doesn't matter. We need to get her back or make tri-brids of our own. This is the only way for our pack to come back to power."

"Where would you suggest we start looking?" Ron asked annoyed.

It was a fair question but that doesn't mean that I liked hearing it. I tensed and glared at him.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I spat. "Elijah obviously wouldn't bring her back to the magic freak show. He probably brought her to his old homeland in Montana."

**So I got a PM review recently. They talked about wanting to see more intimacy between Chloe and Derek. I want to reach out to the rest of my readers first and get your guys' opinions before including that in this story. **


	25. Two things and a toothpick

**The toothpick carries no special significance. Its just a normal toothpick. It just seemed like a fun title.**  
"What are they doing?" Tess asked me.

With Kyle staring at me I felt the pressure to keep quiet.

I shrugged, "I don't know but who works on homework for that long?"

Tess rolled her eyes like I had forgotten what its like to be in school.

"Good cover," Kyle nodded.

Elijah came back from cleaning up his hand and sat back in his seat beside Tess. I glanced up at Derek wanting to be out of the room of people. He nodded, seeing my expression.

"Let's go upstairs and see Tori," he said to me. Giving me a way out of the living room. "You haven't seen her yet."

I nodded and followed him to the stairs. Kyle told me that he was going to stay down here in case there was any information we weren't supposed to hear. I sighed with relief as we got to the top of the stairs.

"How do you feel?" He asked me.

I nodded and shrugged, "I don't want to be around so many people."

Derek nodded, "Understandable. Do you actually want to talk to Simon and Tori?"

Jeremy popped his head out of a bedroom door and leaned against the moldings.

"She wants to talk to me," he smiled.

Derek rolled his eyes at Jeremy.

"What?" He smiled, twirling a toothpick in his right hand. "Just cause you're threatened by me doesn't mean Chloe and I aren't friends?"

Derek actually chuckled when Jeremy said that. He wasn't threatened by Jeremy at all and wasn't letting him get under his skin.

Jeremy looked me over, "You're not a killer anymore huh?"

I shook my head but that statement scared me to be honest. Had I killed someone and no one was going to tell me about it?

"Good," he smiled. "Now we can focus on more important things."

"What's more important than saving her?" Derek glared. That one had gotten under his skin some.

Jeremy smiled and put the toothpick in his mouth, "Whatever your buddies have going on in that bedroom." He nodded towards Tori's room.

"What're you talking about?" Derek asked.

Jeremy snickered, "I've got eyes and ears all over this house."

Derek started walking to Tori's room, I followed. As we passed by Jeremy, he grabbed my arm.

"Don't you dare," Derek spun around.

"Relax," he took the toothpick out of his mouth with his free hand. "I just want to talk to her for a second."

"It's ok," I reassured Derek. "I'll be there in a second."

I didn't feel threatened by Jeremy, I was the magic creature, he was only human. Derek nodded trusting me and knocked on Tori's door. Jeremy pulled me into his room and shut the door.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Two things," he said. "One, I wanted to warn you."

"About?" I asked.

He used the toothpick to point in the direction of the living room below us.

"Somethings not right. It's too relaxed here. I know I spend years in that Edison institution but I can tell when something's up. Someone is stewing up a storm."

The only thing I knew about was Matt was leaving soon. What else could be going on? I'm sure the pack wasn't going to reappear anytime soon.

"We'll deal with it when we come to it," I shrugged. "Like we always do."

Jeremy shook his head, "We need to be ahead of the curve for once. I'm collecting all the information I can right now."

"Let me know when you come across it then," I said. Not know what else he wanted me to say, I had no idea what it could be. "What's the second thing?"

"Preparedness," he stated.

Before I could question what that meant, Jeremy grabbed me and kissed me.


	26. Chapter 26

I should've smacked him. I should've yelled. I should've done something. But I froze. My brain refusing to function for that split second.

Jeremy smiled at me, "What?"

"What do you mean what?" I said. "Do you realize what you've done?"

Jeremy nodded, "Yes. I do. And you aren't going to tell anyone."

He got very close to my face when he said that. A threatening look in his eye. I retreated scared and quickly left the room. I couldn't not tell someone but I couldn't tell someone.

Derek looked at me from the doorway of Tori's room. The door was open but he was still waiting for me.

"You look like you saw a ghost," Derek knelt down as I walked up.

"I-I'm ok," I stuttered.

"Are you sure?" Derek asked. He glanced at Jeremy's door with a hint of anger.

"Don't push her," Simon warned from inside the room.

Derek ushered me in and shut the door while giving Simon the stink eye.

I looked around and didn't see Liz anywhere. Maybe she was off on another secret mission or something.

"What're you guys doing in here?" Derek asked taking a seat on my bed. I followed quietly, not wanting any attention on me right now.

"What does it look like?" Tori asked. "Simon's teaching me."

"Really?" Derek raised an eyebrow. "Because it smells like something got burnt in here."

That tripped Tori up, whatever she was hiding, she forgot about werewolf super senses.

"So I smoked," she lied. "What're you going to do about it."

"Nothing," Derek leaned back against the wall. "I'm just going to wait until whatever you're doing blows up in your face." He paused and grinned. "Metaphor of course."

Tori deflected the attention onto me.

"So what did the pack have you do while you were a brainwashed soldier Chloe?"

"Uh uh uh," I stammered and gripped onto the blanket. Trying not to think about whatever my mind was blocking. I didn't want to remember.

"Too soon," Simon said to her. He turned back to me, "You don't need to answer that."

I nodded.

"Come on," Simon stood up. "Let's go play a game or something. I feel cooped up."

A game sounded like a nice distraction so I agreed. We invited Jeremy on our way downstairs but he declined. Saying he didn't feel too good at the moment. I knew exactly what that meant and that made my stomach twist. What would Derek do when he found out? Would he hate me?

We went out to the backyard and played like normal kids for a few hours. We mainly played kickball. It really was a nice distraction. The adults tried to call us in for lunch but we didn't come in until dinner time when we were all exhausted and starving.

I settled down in the living room after dinner with a couple of people. Matt put in a Harry Potter movie. About halfway through, I fell asleep. I slept peacefully for some time before the nightmares started to set in. I was remembering things.

I screamed as a long metal rod was taken from my forehead. My head felt like it was on fire. I tried to close my eyes and tell myself it was my imagination. When I opened them I was standing in a old log cabin. A slender knife in my bloody hand. I looked down and saw that blood covered my clothes as well. Something moved out of the corner of my eye and I jumped back. It was a man, reaching out towards me as he laid dying. I took a closer look at my surroundings. There were three other dead people in the cabin.

I turned and ran out the door, expecting it to lead me outside. But instead I ran into the pack's living room. Ron stood before me with his claws extending from his finger tips. He swiped at me and I dove backwards out of the way.

"Come on now," he shook his head. "We don't run. We fight back. Let's try it again."

He was training me.

Someone grabbed my shoulders from behind and started shouting.

"Chloe! Chloe! Wake up."

I spun around and was sitting up on the living room couch. Derek on my right and Elijah on my left. Elijah had his hand on my shoulder.

"Chloe?" He said again.

I blinked.

"Are you ok?" Derek asked me. "You were having a nightmare."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't tell if this was real or another dream. I stared at my hands in my lap, if I could just fixate on one thing then I would know if this was real or in my head. A glass of water was set in my hands by Elijah.

"It's ok," he said gently. "Drink."

Seeing the water made me realize how dry my throat was. Had I been yelling in my sleep? This had to be real, I must be awake.

I took a sip of the water.

"Talk to me," Derek moved closer to me. "What's going on?"

I was glad he didn't get visions of what I had seen.

He sighed hurt. I realized that I had moved closer to Elijah when he moved closer to me. I was so scared of him being mad at me for Jeremy.

"It's ok," Elijah said to Derek. "She's been through a lot. Nightmares will happen." He took the glass from me and took my hand. "Let's get you into bed."

I followed the two of them upstairs and to my room. Before my head hit the pillow, I was asleep again.


	27. Chapter 27

**Thatreader2003, I thought about that when I was drafting the chapter but I think he would have smelled Jeremy's scent on her if he had done that or not because he grabbed her arm in the hallway and she stepped into his bedroom where his scent would be strong. Please correct me if I'm wrong! But I thought that the physical contact and being in his room would leave his scent on her.**

I had nightmares sporadically though the night. When I finally got up in the morning I felt as exhausted as I was last night.

"Oh god," I said face down into my pillow.

What was I going to do? Couldn't I have a moment of peace? Tori and Simon were up to something. Jeremy's up to something. Apparently someone else was up to something. There was a strange werewolf in the house that knew a lot about me.

"Hey," someone said near me.

I look up, Liz and Kyle were coming into the room through the wall.

"Where have you guys been?" I asked.

Liz sighed, "Tori's spell knocked me across the veil. Kyle had to help me get back."

"Spell?" I asked, sitting up more and adjusting my sweat soaked pajama shirt.

Liz looked nervous. Kyle pretender to nudge her even though they couldn't touch.

"They'll find out soon enough, what's the harm in telling Chloe?"

"Ok," Liz sighed and nodded. "They had me find a witch's spell book that had a certain spell in it. They used the spell to share Tori's magic with Simon. He was sick of being the only successful Edison experiment or something. Being basically human."

"Oh," I was surprised. "Why wouldn't they tell us? If it worked that's great."

"Tori's worries the adults take the spell book away," Kyle said. "She thinks that they'll think with her amount of power she shouldn't have access to spell books."

I nodded, that was fair. But what was the harm of losing it if they'd already done it? I shook my head. None of my business. I had more important things to focus on.

"Can I ask you guys about something?" I said. Why not have ghosts weigh in, they couldn't tell anyone. Right?

They both nodded.

I lowered my voice out of precaution. You never knew when someone was listening in around here.

"Jeremy," I whispered. "Got infected."

"What?" Kyle asked.

I forgot that he didn't grow up in this supernatural life so he didn't always understand.

"Werewolf," Liz said it for me so no one overheard. "He got infected and will be a werewolf."

"What?!" Kyle shouted. "How?!"

"He kissed me," I whispered.

"Chloe!" Liz shouted.

"I didn't ask him to!" I whisper shouted back.

"What're you gonna do?!" Kyle asked. "You have to tell them."

I dropped back onto my pillow frustrated. Should I tell?

"But Derek's going to hate me and everyone's going to hate me and there's no way to undo it."

"Yes there is," Liz pointed out. "That facility you were in remember?"

"They're not around anymore though. Plus forcing him there would include telling people."

"You can't just let this go on," Kyle said softly. "You need to go to him and tell him that he tells or you will. Or at the least go to him to figure out why he did it."

I thought about that for a moment. He said that he did it for protection. Protection from what? Maybe because he was only human in a house of supernaturals. Maybe he thought Derek was out to get him and he needed to match Derek's strength. Maybe he was preparing for whatever he thought he saw on the horizon with this group.

I sighed. Maybe if his reason is valid enough I could help him though it without having to tell anyone. We'll see. But Kyle was right I had to at the minimal get some answers from Jeremy.

I pushed my blanket off me, "Alright lets go find out."

With them following me, I walked over to Jeremy's door and knocked lightly.

An annoyed, "What?" responded.

I glanced back at Liz and Kyle before letting us into the room. Jeremy was in his bed but the blankets were all on the floor. He was sweating like mad.

"Oh," he said seeing it was me. "Hey."

"How're you doing?" I shut the door behind me.

"Peachy," he smiled.

I walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Liz and Kyle followed.

"You want to know why I willingly did this," Jeremy stated.

I nodded.

"Protection," he repeated from before.

I wanted to glance over at Liz and Kyle to see their expressions but I couldn't without Jeremy realizing we were not alone.

"That's not enough of an answer," I said. "Protection from what?"

Jeremy slid himself up into a sitting position, leaning back against the headboard.

"Come on," he smiled and shook his head. "Don't be naive. You see the way I'm treated around here. I used to have power and control before that Edison facility kidnapped me. I could do anything. Be anything. Now I'm a pathetic human with no place to call home so supernatural creatures let me stay in their spare bedroom. This is no way to live Chloe. I'm ignored 24/7. I bet you that no ones even noticed that I haven't been leaving my room or eating. No one cares about me. They only care about me when they let me tag along on the occasional adventure. And even then I'm still supposed to be part of the background because I'm a stupidly fragile human."

My heart sank, I had hoped he did this for some stupid reason that I could talk him out of. But this? I felt horrible for him.

"I don't know what to say," I said honestly.

Jeremy shrugged. I could hear him try not to wheeze as he breathed.

"Say you won't tell anyone yet?" He looked at me with begging eyes.

I nodded, "As long as you're honest with me from here on out."

"Deal," Jeremy let himself slide back down onto the pillow.

**So what do you guys think? Is Jeremy telling the truth or conning Chloe?**


	28. Chapter 28

I went downstairs and got a few small things for Jeremy to eat but by the time I was back upstairs, he was already asleep. I set them on the nightstand and left the room. As I did, Derek came out of the bathroom. His hair was all wet from a shower.

"Morning," Derek said. "Did you sleep any better last night?"

I shook my head.

"What's going on?" Derek asked. "What're you having nightmares about?"

I looked around, not really wanting to have this conversation in the middle of the hallway.

"Can we talk about it later?" I asked, looking down at my socks. They were getting worn out.

"Elijah asked me to go to the store with him, why don't you come with? We can talk in the car."

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't know much about this guy, why would I want to talk about this in front of him?

"Come on," Derek sighed. "He was there with you. He already knows."

I sighed; he was not going to take no for an answer. Derek wanted to know what was going on in my head. But I was scared that he was going to hate me. If he knew the things that I had done, would he every trust me again? Would he still love me?

I quickly got changed and joined them downstairs. I was offered some breakfast but I declined, my nerves were making me feel sick to my stomach. It was quiet until we got into the car. Elijah got into the drivers seat and glanced back at me as he started driving.

"So you're remembering?" He said.

"Yeah, guess so," I mumbled.

"Can we talk about it?" Derek asked me gently. He didn't want to push it but he wanted to know.

I shrugged, "There was a bunch of dead people in a cabin somewhere."

Derek set his hand on mine, "What do you remember about them?"

I shook my head, "Nothing, just that something happened to them and I was there."

"Don't beat yourself up about that night," Elijah said. "That was back when they were still brainwashing you; you didn't really even do anything to them. You were just there watching the demonstration."

"Demonstration?" Derek questioned.

"Ron was set on teaching her the proper ways to fight. Those people were possessed by demons."

Oh god. I thought back to the demon I freed from the Edison facility. Demons could be really powerful.

"Are they out to get me now?" I asked quietly.

Elijah shook his head, "I doubt that, they were low ranking demons with no leader. No other demons would care about them or miss them."

He parked the car in a parking space and turned around to look at me.

"Don't be afraid to speak up as you remember things, I won't hide anything from you. I'll tell you exactly what went down."

"Why was I holding a bloody weapon if I wasn't the one to hurt them?" I asked.

Both of them froze for a moment, I had a sinking feeling in my gut that Derek was afraid of me for a split second.

"Ron gave it to you after using it on some of the demons. He had hoped that having blood in your hand would send you into a vampire frenzy and you would participate in the attack. But it didn't work, Sylvia had fed you earlier that day."

He turned back and got out of the car. I stared at Derek for a second not really knowing what to think.

"Come on," he said and gently tugged on my hand to follow him out of the car.

I didn't really help them as they collected things from the grocery list. I just pushed our cart, deep in thought. I felt better knowing that I wasn't the one to hurt those people in the cabin. It was one less thing weighing on me. And again I felt this gut feeling that I could trust Elijah. I don't know what it is about him but I just knew that he was a good werewolf who had gotten mixed up with some bad werewolves. He wasn't going to do anything to hurt me.

"Are you ok?" Derek asked me while we waited for our turn with the cashier. "You've barely said anything."

I nodded, "Just a lot to process."

Derek nodded that he understood. A phone started buzzing in Elijah's pocket.

He pulled it out and clicked answer, "Hello."

The volume on his phone was turned down as low as it could so prying ears could not hear but Derek and I could just barely hear it since we were standing beside him. But not well enough to be able to identify the speaker.

"EJ!" A woman's voice shouted. "Help!"

"What's going on?" He was immediately concerned.

Derek and I exchanged looks of worry. What had happened now?

"Hurry please. They came back. They were followed."

Her voice got quieter, was she trying to hide?

Elijah grabbed my shoulder and the three of us left the cashier's line and headed to the doors.

"Where are you?" Elijah tried to keep his voice calm as we sped to the car.

"I-" the phone cut out.

Elijah's fingers curled around the phone tightly as he tried not to throw it. We got in and he floored it before Derek or I even had our seat belts on.

"What the heck is going on?" Derek asked.

"Tess," Elijah said. "I don't know who followed who but they're in trouble."

Derek started to get pale. I think that he, like me, hoped that was a stranger calling him.

"Dad," he said. "He was coming back today or tomorrow. Someone followed him."

I gripped the seat to not fall over as Elijah flew around a street corner.

"Who?" He demanded. "We need to know what we are walking into. Who would follow him?"

"I don't know."

Derek was white knuckle gripping the seat too but not for the same reason. No not now no no. Please control yourself Derek. We need you human.

**I will get chapter titles up soon, its just been hectic with exams.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Tess's POV**

I glanced out the window as Elijah's car sped down the driveway. He always was a speed demon when he was behind the wheel. I set the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on. I loved running this safe house but with this many people here, we ran out of stuff often. Especially when it came to food.

"How's the shoulder doing Tess?" Matt asked as he crutched into the kitchen.

He would still be on the crutches until the end of the week, but I didn't have to use my sling anymore.

"Fine," I shifted it around. "A little stiff but it healed up."

"I'm really sorry about that still," Matt said.

"Stop being sorry," I told him. "It wasn't your fault and we got Chloe back, so it was worth it."

I pulled two beers from the back of the fridge and slid one across the counter to him.

"Isn't it a bit early for a drink?" Matt asked as he opened it.

I shook my head, "It's never too early." I opened mine and took a sip. "Ever wonder what that pack did when they woke up?"

Matt thought for a moment, "I don't know what they would do. What would you?"

I shrugged, "Check everyone's injuries then probably start a game plan how to track them down."

Matt nodded, "I would probably do the same. So why haven't they come looking for us here? Nate's been here before, the location is no secret."

"Because common sense says that we've moved to a new hiding place so why bother checking here."

"Yep," Matt sipped his drink.

There was a knock at the front door. I set my drink down and checked through the small window before opening it.

"Kit," I smiled. "Come in, you know you don't need to knock."

He smiled back, his eyes were dark and tired. He needed sleep.

"Well I didn't know who was home, I didn't want to come waltzing in with Lauren and scare Chloe."

I finally noticed the woman standing beside him. Dressed in professional clothing and standing with rigid posture. I felt my ears get hot. I did not like this woman in the slightest. All she had done was cause Chloe pain and suffering. I opposed finding her and bringing her back into Chloe's life.

"Chloe's not here," I said to Kit. "She tagged along with the boys running errands."

I stepped aside to let them in and shut the door behind him. Lauren saw my beer sitting on the counter and made a comment under her breath.

"She must be doing alright if you're letting her go out in public," Kit said.

I nodded, "Oh she's been perfectly fine. Only the occasional nightmare."

Lauren disappeared into the living room. I walked back over to Matt with Kit.

"How did Rachel do?" Matt asked him. "Think she'll adjust alright?"

Kit nodded, "I do. They were older folks, but they seemed genuinely kind and caring."

We talked for a while; it was nice having Kit back. Lauren walked around the house looking around at everything. I don't know if she was looking for something or if she was simply waiting for Chloe to return but it made me nervous.

After talking for some time, Simon came down from upstairs with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey," he nodded to his dad.

Something must have really concerned him for him to not have much of a reaction to Kit returning.

"What's with the cars pulling in?" Simon asked.

"Oh, it's a rental," Kit answered. "My cars in the shop for engine repairs."

"No," Simon shook his head. "I mean the ones pulling in right now. The black SUVs."

"The what?" Several of us said almost simultaneously.

Kit stood from his seat, "Get the others and get into the basement."

"Who is it?" Simon didn't like that we were panicking.

Lauren rounded the corner about to start another one of her laps around the house.

"What've you done?" I shot up from my seat. "Are you going to try to lock her up again?"

"What are you talking about?" Lauren asked.

I pointed towards the door, my werewolf hearing picking up on the incoming cars now.

"Your work associates have arrived."

Lauren seemed genuinely surprised to hear that Edison Group people were showing up.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Simon repeated.

"Now," Kit commanded. "Get them downstairs. Now."

Simon ran back up the stairs. I got into Lauren's face.

"If anyone lays a finger on her, it'll be your head."

"I don't know what's happening," she said. "I have nothing to do with this."

Matt was on his feet, crutches against the table. Adrenaline must have been giving him the push to be able to stand.

"Tess stop," he said. "I think she's telling the truth. They probably were followed."

There was the sound of car doors slamming shut. Simon, Tori, and Jeremy sped past us and down to the basement. All of them had looks of confusion or fear.

**Chloe's POV**

Elijah floored it up the driveway, two black SUVs were parked behind all of our vehicles, blocking them in. The front door was hanging on by the bottom hinge.

"Come on," Elijah got out of the car and started running towards the house.

I opened the door to follow and grabbed Derek's hand. But he didn't move.

"I'll be there in a minute," Derek said. His breathing was labored and he was sweating.

There was the sound of something breaking inside the house.

"This isn't the time," I growled at him. "You can hold it off."

His eyes glowed, "I can't."

I growled at him again and ran towards the broken front door. The moment I stepped inside it was chaos. Furniture was broken everywhere and everyone was fighting. Tess and some man crashed into the dining table. Matt swiftly pulled his sword out of a man that dropped to the floor. A blast of white light flew by me as Tori cast spells to fend off these intruders. I ran to her.

"What's going on?"

"The Edison Group," she said. "They're back for revenge."

Someone crashed through drywall. I looked over. Aunt Lauren?! What?! My mind froze. A black blur sped past me and into her. Derek…Derek…Derek was fighting Aunt Lauren! My mind felt like rusty gears unable to process what I was seeing, I didn't want Derek or Aunt Lauren to get hurt. But at the same time did I really care about Aunt Lauren?

Before I had time to answer that question, someone finally made me join in on the fighting. They grabbed me by my hair and started dragging me. My instinct took over and I yanked my head from their grip. It hurt really bad but that's something I would handle later. The woman tried to grab me again and I sliced into her arm. My fingers were wolf-like claws instead of human fingers. How did I do that?

The lady produced a ball of energy in her palm, she was a witch. I lunged at her, interrupting her spell and clawed her again. The woman spat blood in my eyes to stun me and pushed me off of her. But before she could stand up all the way, Elijah tackled her back to the ground. I had no idea where he came from but I was grateful.

"Chloe!" I heard from my left.

I turned; it was Tess. She pushed me towards the stairs.

"Get the others and run. Take Elijah's car. Go! Go now!"

I did as I was told without questioning it. I ran down the stairs and was immediately knocked off my feet by a blast of magic. I fell down the stair and hit the floor with a groan.

"What the hell Simon?!" I spat blood onto the floor.

By the look on his face, he had no idea that it had been me coming down the stairs. He, Tori, and Jeremy were down here.

"Elijah's keys are still in his car," I said. "Tess says we need to go. Now. There's a small window in the back room."

Tori shot up and into the room with a nod. Simon looked at Jeremy who was sick.

"I've got him," I commanded. "Go Simon."

Simon nodded and ran after her. I hoped they could fit through that small window. Something crashed above. I looked at Jeremy and helped him get to his feet.

"Leave me," he said. "They aren't here for me."

I pushed him towards the back room and to the window. Noticing that my fingers were back to being fingers again. I pushed Jeremy through and climbed out too. Helped him to the car as quickly as I could make him move. Simon took Jeremy from me and got him into the car. I turned and started running back towards the house.

"Chloe!" They shouted after me.

"Go!" I shouted back.

I didn't wait for a response; I ran back into the chaos. I needed to know Derek was okay. Matt had his sword in one hand and a piece of wood in the other. He smacked the wood into the back of the head of the man wrestling Kit. When did Kit get back?!

"Chloe!" He said surprised. "Get out of here!"

I told him no and grabbed Kit. He seemed barely conscious, I brought him outside and Simon took over guiding him to the car. Once again I ran back in looking for Derek. I passed by Matt who was dragging an unconscious Tess to the door. I grabbed his piece of wood and ran at the man who was trying to sneak up on Matt.

I smacked it into the back of his knees. The man hit his head on the leg of a dining room chair as he fell. Matt came back in and grabbed me by my shoulders.

"Go now! No more fooling around Chloe! There's too many of them!"

He pushed me towards the door and spun around to meet his next opponent.

I didn't have a choice, I had to. I ran outside and into the car.

Shutting the door I yelled, "Go go go!"

Simon looked for any sign of Derek, "Simon! Now!"

I didn't like leaving him either but I knew he could hold his own. Simon threw the car into drive and we sped off.

**Do you guys like that she's remembering things or is that a bad thing? It could prove helpful and dangerous.**


	30. Chapter 30

Kit looked around, "What's going on?"

"The Edison guys who survived from the facility came to retaliate," Simon said as he pulled to the side of the road.

"I know," Kit said. "I mean what's going on here. Where's Derek?"

"At Tess'," I said.

Kit sat up straighter, "What?! We are going back for him now."

"We can't," Tori joined the conversation. "Matt told Chloe that there's too many Edison people. He was trying to save as many of us as he could."

"We are going back," Kit demanded.

"Derek will be fine, he knows how to hold his own," Simon said. "We'll hear from him soon I bet. He'll find Tess' cell phone and call you."

Kit did not like the situation or the fact his son was taking charge over him.

"He has Matt and Elijah," I said. "He's not alone."

I was pretty sure they both had cell phones too. It was only a matter of time before we heard from them. They were skilled fighters, there was no way they would lose. I closed my eyes and pulled on Liz and Kyle and while others continued talking. After a moment, they appeared in the seat beside me.

"You guys look like crap," Kyle looked at us. "What happened?"

I didn't care about the others overhearing me or looking weird talking to an empty seat.

"Can you two go back to the house?" I asked. "We need to know what's going on there."

Liz nodded, "Let me go there and Kyle stay here. I can find my way back easier looking for him."

I nodded. She disappeared. I should have asked her how long it was going to take to go there and back.

"Liz?" Simon asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "She can go back and check on the situation for us."

Kit seemed a little more relaxed by this, he hated not knowing. The others started discussing what we needed to do now and I looked over Tess and Jeremy. Tess had taken a blow to the head that had knocked her out but I think she will be okay. I couldn't make out any other serious injuries like broken bones. She mainly had bruises from defending herself against her attacker.

Jeremy was awake but not participating in the conversation. He looked like his main focus right now was trying not to throw up. I moved closer to him and put my hand against his forehead, he was warm but not quite feverish.

"You just had to pick now to be sick, didn't you?" I grinned at him.

Jeremy chuckled, "You know me, got to be the center of attention."

I looked him over for any wounds and he just shook his head.

"I didn't fight at all; I just hid in the basement."

"Well you're in no condition to fight," I pointed out. I didn't want him to feel useless or like a burden.

Jeremy glanced to make sure the others were focused on their own conversation not ours before he asked a question. Kyle was listening to us but that didn't matter. He already knew, not that Jeremy knew about me telling them.

"How long is this going to last?" He asked. "I feel like I'm dying."

I brushed sweaty hair from his eyes, "You've only been sick for what two days? Give it a week-ish and you will be fine."

"Thanks," he said. "And thanks for coming back for me. For all of us."

"Of course," I smiled.

"Hey," Simon pulled us back into the main conversation. "The plan is to lay low at the park up the road until we hear from them or Liz. There's a motel nearby if we need to stay the night but I doubt it'll take that long for one of them to get back to us."

"What are we going to do if they've been taken?" I asked worried.

Kit shook his head, "I doubt that they would do that if they were here for retaliation. There's no point in taking hostages when you know that we are coming for them. They've taken you kids how many times? I'm sure they've learned their lesson."

"You better pray that you're right," Tori mumbled under her breath.

Simon drove us up the road to the park. There were not a lot of people here, just a few families. We stayed in the car for a while until Tess stirred and then went to the bathrooms to get cleaned up. It would be stupid to be walking around here bloody. Once we were walking to the bathrooms, I noticed that Tori had a small backpack with her that she was keeping very close. I wondered if she managed to grab her spell book before chaos erupted.

Simon and I were the first to step out of the bathrooms. Except for Kyle who waited outside them. I could tell Simon wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"Out with it," I said.

Simon sighed, "You haven't questioned how I was able to use a big spell on you back at the house."

"Oh," I laughed nervously. "I guess it didn't cross my mind."

Simon shook his head, "No. Liz told you what was going on, didn't she?"

I tried to give him a look of confusion in response. Simon shook his head; he wasn't buying it.

"Fine," I sighed. "Yeah, she did. I wasn't going to say anything though. Didn't seem like it was my business."

Simon's lips curled into a small smile; he was happy that I wasn't jumping down his throat for what they did.

"Thanks," he said.

I nodded, "No problem."

I glanced around looking for Liz, Kyle was doing his best to stay close to me so she could make it back easy. I wanted to summon her back but worried that maybe she hadn't gotten there yet and I'd be inconveniencing her and making it take longer.

**Correct me if I'm wrong, it can be easy to forget/miss characters when you've got so many.**

**At the house we have: Derek, Matt, Elijah, Lauren, Liz**

**At the park/car we have: Chloe, Tori, Simon, Kit, Jeremy, Tess, Kyle**


	31. Chapter 31

**Happy Holidays guys!**

It was starting to get late which was worrying all of us. It had been hours since we fled our house and still hadn't heard from anyone.

"Chloe," Kit said. We sat down around a picnic table. "Can you summon Liz back here? I don't know why it would take her this long."

I nodded and closed my eyes to pull her to us. As I did, someone tapped my arm lightly. I opened my eyes, Jeremy sat beside me.

"Can I steal you for a minute first?" He asked.

I looked at Kit and Kyle and held up a finger that I would just be a minute. With Tess being the only other werewolf here, and her having a severe headache; we didn't need to go far to get privacy to talk. But Jeremy walked up the small hill to the storage building.

"What is it?" I asked when he finally stopped walking.

"I thought you said maybe a week," Jeremy said, hand against his side.

I nodded, "I did. But it's different for everyone. Why? What's wrong?"

"I'm not doing so good," he admitted.

"Probably because you've been refusing to eat," I suggested.

"Chloe," he winced at something. "I'm serious. I need help."

I glanced back down at the picnic table and Jeremy's hand shot to my arm.

"No," he said quickly. "Help from you."

"I have no idea what I'm doing," I said.

Jeremy looked like he didn't care if I knew how to help him or not, he wasn't going to trust anyone else with what was going on. His eyes begged me to do something for him.

"You're not going to change or anything, are you?" I asked.

Jeremy leaned against the wall for support, "No I don't think so."

"You just need to hold on for a little while longer," I said. "We can try to get you food soon and see if that helps."

He nodded, I think he expected a different answer but that was all I could give him for right now. Whatever was going on, it was out of my control. I walked back to the picnic table with him, summoning Liz on the way. By the time we were sitting back down, she stood beside Kyle.

"What took so long?" I asked her.

Liz shrugged and shook her head, "Those Edison guys put up a boundary spell or something. I could get on the property but nowhere near the house. I was trying to find a way in."

"Did you see anyone?" I asked. Me talking to thin air was drawing attention from the others. They realized Liz must be back.

Liz shook her head, "No. No one was outside and I couldn't get close enough to the windows to see in."

I looked over to Kit and Simon, "There was a boundary spell or something, she couldn't get in the house. But she didn't see anyone there."

"Can we go back?" Simon asked.

I glanced at Liz, she shrugged.

"I don't know if that's a good idea or not," she admitted.

Kit, on the other hand, stood up.

"Yes," he said.

Kit began instructing all of us to get our things and get back to the car immediately. As everyone was, I excused myself to the bathrooms and found a vending machine. I got a bag of chips from it and joined them at the car. Handing it to Jeremy. He smiled at me gratefully.

The drive back seemed even quicker and quieter than our drive away. Kit was determined to get his son back. I was worried about Derek too, don't get me wrong. But I know he's capable of handling situations.

As we pulled up the driveway, the car died and came to a stop.

"Out of gas?" Tess asked.

Kit shook his head, "No, we weren't. They must have more than one perimeter spell." He turned around and looked at everyone. "Simon and I will go ahead and look inside for anyone. Everyone else stays here and stays together."

They got out of the car and started walking up the driveway. They only made it about halfway between us and the house before it looked like they walked into a brick wall. We watched as they put their hands out and pushed on the air but couldn't move any further. I nodded at Tori and we got out and jogged up to them.

"What's going on?" Tori asked.

"Another barrier," Kit was starting to get angry.

Tori walked up and put her hand out until it stopped. She couldn't move go past the same spot. Feeling curious, I stretched my hand out. I wanted to know what this invisible wall felt like. But my hand just kept on going. Simon noticed me first.

"Dad! Chloe can get past it!"

Kit wasn't thrilled like the rest of us.

"This is their way of separating us," he said angrily.

I waved at the car for the others to join us. Having an idea, I stepped past the boundary.

"Chloe!" Simon and Kit shouted, reaching for me.

"Get back over here," Kit commanded.

I shook my head, "If you want to find out if Derek's here then someone's got to go inside."

The others joined us and stopped beside Kit.

"Liz, Kyle," I waved them to me, they walked up beside me like it was nothing. So ghosts could get through this barrier and who else? "Tess? Jeremy?"

"No," Kit tried to grab Tess' arm but she stepped next to me. Jeremy too. So ghosts and werewolves.

"We won't be long," Tess promised Kit.

"Tori," I said. "Can you try to work out a way to get rid of these?"

She nodded

We turned and started walking towards the house. About a hundred feet from the house, Liz and Kyle were stopped.

"Liz and Kyle can't get any closer, this boundary must be for ghosts so we can't have anyone scouting ahead."

"Be careful," Kyle said to me.

I nodded that I would and we kept walking. We made it up to the doorway, the door still laid on the floor. I stepped past it and made it inside. I looked up at the others, neither of them were stepping past the doorway.

"A necromancer boundary," I sighed.

"Chloe," Tess looked like she was going to cry. "Be careful. I don't like this one bit."

"I promise," I nodded.

I took a deep breath and stepped further into the house.


	32. Chapter 32

The house was a disaster as one might expect after a big fight. But as far as I could tell there wasn't anyone in the kitchen or dining area. I walked downstairs next, the light was still on but no one was down here either. I was tempted to call out for the guys but I didn't want to give myself away in case someone else was here.

I walked back upstairs and into the living room. Most of the fighting must have taken place here, all of the furniture in here was destroyed and there were holes in the drywall. I started to wonder why they would put up all these barriers if they weren't here anymore, what was the point? And why me? Why was I the only one left that could get into the house?

I walked upstairs as quietly as I could. At the top step I slipped on some broken glass and fell down. Cursing as I pulled glass from my knees and palms. Once all the big pieces were out, I got up and kept moving. Going from bedroom to bedroom, checking in closets and under beds. Finding no one. I was starting to get worried. Where were they? The Edison people wouldn't take adults. The last place to check was the bathroom, I pushed the door open slowly. No one. Opened the shower curtain. No one. I took a moment to look at myself in the mirror. Studying the dark circles under my eyes.

There was the sound of movement underneath me. Had Tori worked their way in? Or was I never alone? Then it dawned on me, I skipped Tess' room.

As quiet as I could, I made my way back downstairs and to Tess' bedroom door. It was shut. I smelled for the scent of anyone inside but I was catching everyone's scents, I couldn't tell who would be in there.

I listened for any movement and for a minute or two I didn't hear anything. But ever so softly I swore I heard nails against her bathroom tile. Derek? It had to be. I braced myself for whatever defense they might have and grabbed the cool metal door handle. Turned it softly and pushed the door open. No one jumped out right away so I stepped into the room.

I should have looked closer first, something whipped through the air and connected with the back of my head.

"No!" I heard before everything quickly went black.

**Third Person POV**

"No!" Elijah yelled at the last second, realizing who it was.

But it was too late, Matt was already swinging. He connected with the back of her head and she dropped to the floor.

"Oh god," he dropped to his knees and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Chloe!"

As soon as the name came out of his mouth, Derek scratched at the bathroom door madly. Elijah opened the door before he clawed through it. He bolted out to her and whined loudly.

"For the love of god," Elijah said frustrated. "Would you change back already."

Derek glared at him and turned his attention back to Chloe. Matt regained his composure.

"Back up," he said before he started whispering things under his breath.

Thirty seconds later, Chloe stirred.

**Back to Chloe's POV**

I woke up without pain to my surprise. Kneeling over me was Matt, he must have done some magic on me to heal me. I looked around and saw Elijah and Derek. Thank god they were okay. Derek saw my eyes open and pressed his face against mine.

"You guys are ok," I said.

Matt helped me to my feet, "They put up quite the fight."

I took a better look at them, Matt's leg was bleeding from where his stitches had been and they were all covered in cuts and bruises.

"Everyone else is outside," I said. "They couldn't come in because of some invisible barrier spells or something."

I wanted to ask why they hadn't tried to call us but now wasn't the time. Right now we just needed to get everyone together and to safety. I walked with them out of the house, Derek stayed glued to my side protectively.

As we stepped through the door we joined up with Jeremy and Tess. He was looking better with food in his system but still wasn't great. I had a gut feeling that something was going to happen to him soon. Tess grabbed Elijah and hugged him as tight as she could.

"My house," she said into his shirt.

"Let's not worry about that right now," Elijah said. "That's a concern for later."

We walked out to Liz and Kyle, I nodded to them as they joined us.

When we made it out to everyone else, Kit seemed furious yet relieved. He hated us walking into potential danger like that but he was glad that everyone was alright. Derek stayed next to or behind me once we got to them. I think he wasn't comfortable yet with his dad seeing him this way. Kit had only seen it a handful of times.

We all walked back to the car and Kit tried to start it up again. It took a few tries before it finally roared to life.

"We can't all fit in one car," Matt pointed out that the other cars in the driveway were busted up.

"We'll take as many as we can to that motel," Kit said. "Then come back. I don't see how it would take more than two trips."

Splitting up wasn't ideal but it was what we had. Kit would take Simon, Tori, Tess, and Matt. Liz and Kyle tagged along, but that really didn't matter. How much space would ghosts really take up in a car?

As they pilled in, Kit pulled Matt aside and whispered:

"What happened to Lauren?"

I knew it wasn't my imagination! She had been there!

"I don't know," Matt said honestly. "She probably ran when they showed up. She'll turn up."

They got in the car and off they went.

I sat down on the grass with my group. Me, Jeremy, Derek, and Elijah. Elijah wanted us to keep moving, walk in the direction of the motel while the others were gone. He said that even if we only made it a few miles, it was still saving time in the long run. But his flaw was the boys. Jeremy was too sick to hike and how would we explain a black wolf to people who saw us?


	33. Chapter 33

**So questions of curiosity for my readers; whats your guys' opinion of Elijah lately? I know many distrusted him last time I asked. And what do you guys think about Matt's proposal? Should Chloe and the others take it? Or is taking the story in that new direction too much?**

It was starting to get dark out, the sun was setting and temperature was dropping. We sat around for maybe ten or fifteen minutes before Derek started twitching, he was going to change back to human. I stood up to go with him but Derek nudged my leg to get me to sit back down. He didn't care about Elijah seeing it because he was a werewolf and I guessed that he didn't care about Jeremy seeing it because it would prove he can withstand a lot of pain.

I looked up at Elijah, "You could get inside again right?"

Elijah nodded, "Most likely."

"Could you grab him a change of clothes?"

Elijah nodded and got up. By the time he was back a few minutes later, Derek was laying in the grass human again. His hand wrapped around my ankle. Jeremy was ghostly pale and barely holding on to the food in his stomach. If Derek did that to intimidate him, it definitely worked. Derek took the clothes and quickly got dressed.

"What are you sick with?" Elijah asked Jeremy.

Jeremy chuckled, "You're the first person to care enough to ask that."

"That's not an answer to my question," he pointed out. "You smell different. What are you sick with?"

"I'm fine," Jeremy said.

"That's still not an answer," Elijah said.

"Maybe because I don't want to answer," Jeremy snapped.

I grabbed his arm expecting Jeremy to try to get physical, but he didn't.

"Hey, now is not the time to start something," I said to Jeremy.

Elijah looked at me, "You know what's wrong with him. Don't you?"

"I'm staying out of this as much as possible," I raised my hands.

Elijah's shoulders dropped, "You two haven't done something stupid now, have you?"

"No," Jeremy shook his head.

Elijah smelled the air again.

"Oh you did not," he shook his head. Elijah was either a really good actor or he'd figured it out. Either way, Jeremy cracked.

"I wanted it, ok?" Jeremy said.

Derek finally joined in the conversation, following Elijah's lead.

"Oh really?"

"I was the only human alright? I couldn't do it anymore."

The two finally fit the puzzle together when he said 'was.'

"Jeremy!" Elijah shouted.

Derek turned to anger, "I swear to god if you laid a hand on Chloe."

I quickly moved so I was in between them and Jeremy.

"I didn't I swear," Jeremy hid behind me.

Elijah's temper showed through for a second.

"What did you do to Tess?!"

"Nothing!" Jeremy said.

"Stop blaming him," I interrupted. "You can't change the past."

"I'm not going to try to change the past," Derek growled. "I'm going to hurt him if he hurt you."

"Nobody's been hurt," I tell them. "Leave it be."

Elijah grabbed me and Jeremy by our shoulders and yanked us to our feet.

"Alright fine," he was back to his normal calmed self. "We're going."

"What?" Derek asked.

"I'm leaving it be," he said. "We are moving until we run into Kit. I don't care if he feels good or not."

And with that we started moving, Jeremy stayed on my left away from the other two as we walked down the side of the road. He mouthed 'thank you' to me. I nodded. Derek was obviously exhausted from changing but the new found anger kept him walking. He kept glancing at me ever few minutes.

"What?" I asked finally.

"I just want to know what this child did."

I saw Jeremy twitch out of the corner of my eye, he did not like being called a child.

"I used Chloe's toothbrush," Jeremy said.

He said it convincing enough because Derek's shoulders relaxed a bit.

We walked probably another half a mile before Jeremy finally lost his stomach. He doubled over and puked. As mad as the two were at him, I could tell they were concerned when he started puking.

"Let's take a quick break," Elijah suggested.

We moved off the road for our break, it was getting too dark to stand around on the road.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Jeremy.

"About how you would expect," he said spitting to the get the taste out of his mouth.

**Little bit of a time skip here.**

A car came towards us and slowed down. The window rolled down.

"Need a ride?" Kit asked.

We climbed in, Elijah took the passenger seat, the rest of us were in the back. I made sure to sit in between them again so no more problems would start. Kit and Elijah chatted quietly but it was a mostly silent trip to the motel.

I held Derek back as we got out of the car a the motel.

"Please don't be mad at him," I said.

"Chloe," he sighed. "He turned himself into a werewolf because he was sick of being the only human in the house. That's not a good enough reason to do that to himself."

"Derek, please. You had nothing to do with it so let it be," I said. "Can't you at least put that positive spin on it? You didn't do it. It's not your fault."

"How could you know about this and not tell me?"

"I found out after he started getting sick," I partially lied. "He begged me not to tell anyone. He made me promise. I have to keep promises Derek or else I'm no better than the people working for the Edison Group. I can't be a liar too, I had to keep my promise."

Derek's face told me he didn't like that I made that promise but he understood. We caught up to the others and made our way up to the rooms. We had to have two rooms to fit everyone but right now they were all in one. When we came walking in, Tess and Matt were icing their injuries and Tori and Simon were having a hushed conversation by the TV. Not that anyone was seeing them, but Liz and Kyle were sitting beside Tori and Simon, listening in.


	34. Announcements

Once everyone was settled in the room, Elijah stood to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone," he said. "We are staying here for tonight. Tomorrow a few of us will head back and disable those spells. Meanwhile the rest of us will stay here and stay safe."

"Do we really think it's a good idea to go back there?" Derek asked. "No offense to Tess, cause it is her home. But they know of that safe house's location now. Who's to stop them from coming back whenever they want or giving the information to others in the future?"

Elijah went to say something but Tess cut him off.

"I agree with him actually. I planned on getting ahold of my safe house contacts tomorrow and arranging someplace new for the nine of us. Well eleven if Kyle and Liz need accommodating."

Matt cleared his throat, "Eight."

Tess glanced around checking her math. My mind flashed to my conversation with Matt. Him telling me that he didn't need a safe house anymore and needing to move on. Derek glanced over at me confused, he must have caught the snippet that ran through my head.

"What're you talking about?" Tess asked.

"We know my time in safe houses is up. I'm just taking up space now that someone else could really need. Once all of you are settled somewhere new, I'll be splitting from the group."

Dead silence followed for a split second and then everyone's opinions came out at once. No one wanted him to go. Everyone was talking over each other, saying that he needed to stay with the group.

Matt held up a hand to stop the commotion, "I didn't say that people couldn't come with me. But what I do for a living is dangerous."

I looked over at Tori, Simon, and Derek and raised an eyebrow.

"What do you guys say?" I ask. "Ready to leave safe houses behind?"

Everyone's jaws were on the floor, this was a huge decision just sprung on them.

"Now hold on," Kit interrupted. "You kids are not going to just up and leave like that."

I frowned, Matt was more of a father to me than Kit ever was. So why did I have to listen to Kit? Why couldn't I make this decision for myself? Matt looked over at me and winked, he wasn't going to let Kit dictate my decision either.

Tess spent the remainder of the evening trying to talk Matt into staying around. She'd grown accustomed to his company over the years. I turned on the motel TV but barely paid attention to the movie that was on. My eyelids felt heavier and heavier.

I woke because of my neck, falling asleep in a chair really made it stiff. I sat up and rolled my head side to side trying to loosen it up. My movement woke Derek up who fell asleep in his chair next to me.

"What're you doing?" He asked sleepily.

"Just stretching," I said. "Sorry if I woke you up."

Derek reached over and grabbed my hand. He pulled me up from my chair and onto his lap. I laid against his chest and fell back asleep. One of my first nights without nightmares. Probably because of how mentally and physically exhausted I was.

**Time skip to morning. This was too short to leave the chapter here.**

It was chaotic in the two small motel rooms, everyone was trying to get cleaned up with what few things we had. The adults continued debating on Tess' house. They agreed that they at least should go back and try to take down the spell barriers but now they debated on possessions. Should we take the risk of taking anything out of the house? The Edison people could have bugged furniture or put tracking spells on stuff.

It slowly separated into the adult's motel room and the kid's motel room because we were getting sick of listening to the debating. I gave Simon a look while Derek was in the bathroom showering.

"What?" He asked even though he knew why.

"You need to tell him," I said.

Simon shook his head. I glared at him.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because he deserves to be included in something important like that."

Simon searched for a reason not to tell him.

"How about that?" I pointed at the mark the spell left on his hand. "How're you going to explain that when he sees it? Or when he sees that Tori has it too?"

Simon sighed, "Alright fine I surrender."

Good, I thought to myself. The less secrets between us all the better. We needed everyone to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses so we can fight our best. Knowing that Simon could use magic and Jeremy had heightened werewolf senses were advantages that people outside our group didn't know.

Derek got out of the shower a few minutes later and I looked over at Simon. He looked back at me unhappily.

"Hey," Simon got up and walked over to Derek. "Can we talk for a second?"

Derek nodded, a hint of confusion in his expression.

Simon took a deep breath and spoke quiet but the room was small, we could all hear him still.

"Look, so, Tori and I. We did a spell a while ago. I've got magic like a regular wizard now. I'm no longer an Edison success."

I expected Derek to blow up at him. I think we all expected that. But Derek must have decided to work on that because he just raised his eyebrows surprised.

"What took you so long to tell me?" Derek asked adjusting his shirt sleeve.

"We didn't want anyone knowing because we were afraid that people would try to take it away from me again or take away Tori's spell book. No one wants us getting more powerful."

Derek nodded, "Understandable. How much have you tested it out?"

Simon shrugged, "Not much. We tried a few simple spells at the house and I did a few blasting spells during the fight."

I thought back to coming down the stairs and getting hit by Simon's blast of magic. It definitely worked good. Derek glanced over at me, dang it! He probably saw my flashback.

"You hit Chloe with it?" Derek asked his hand tightened into a fist but his voice remained calm. He really was trying to control his outbursts.

"It was an accident," Simon defended himself. "I didn't know it was her."

"Just, please be careful." Derek said.

Simon nodded, "Of course."

Derek said something else to Simon but I got distracted by Kyle and Liz coming into the room.

"Most of them left," Kyle said. "To get supplies or to go to the house."

"Hey," Liz said nervously. "Could you ask Tori if she's ready to repay me for the spell book? With no adults around right now, it's a good time to do it."


	35. Alive

"Hey Tori," I got her attention. "Liz and Kyle came back. They said they think now is a good time for you to repay them for the spell book."

Tori sat up from the small bed she was laying on, "Oh yeah. Liz said that there was a spell in there that she wanted us to do."

I glanced at Liz for an explanation. She just smiled nervously.

"I hope it works," was all she said about it. She watched Tori pull out the book and start flipping through the pages. "There."

I pointed out which one Liz wanted.

"What kind of spell is it?" I asked.

Tori shrugged, "I don't know but I owe her one so let's do it."

"How?" Simon asked. "We don't have ingredients anymore."

Tori scanned the page, "This one doesn't need a ton of ingredients like the last one. This one just needs blood from two people and earth."

"Earth?" Simon asked.

"Earth like dirt," Tori said.

Simon nodded and left the room to go get some dirt from outside. Tori grabbed the ice bucket to use as a bowl and went searching to find something safe to use as a knife.

I smiled at Derek.

"What?" He asked.

"That was really nice of you," I said. "The way you reacted to Simon."

Derek shrugged, "He should've told me when he was doing it."

I raised an eyebrow, "You would've tried to stop him though."

Derek exhaled a laugh, "Fair."

Derek looked over at Jeremy who was asleep on the couch.

"I guess we have a trend of making people feel inferior," he sighed.

"They both made it through," I pointed out, trying to put a positive spin on it. "Everyone's alright."

"Are you sure? You got sick too but you weren't as bad as Jeremy is. Something could be wrong."

"I think something would've gone wrong by now if it was going to," I shrugged. "I think that he's okay."

Simon and Tori came back with their supplies and set them on the nightstand. They pulled the nightstand away from the wall and sat on opposite sides. I sat beside Tori and Derek sat beside Simon. Liz and Kyle stood watching.

"We need two people's blood to do this," Tori said before she began.

I immediately extended my hand. Derek flinched not wanting me to do it. But he didn't say anything. Simon extended his too. Derek did not look happy with us.

Tori nodded and got started, she set the book on an angle so she and Simon could read it together. They started chanting odd words that I couldn't understand. Liz and Kyle smiled with anticipation. Tori took Simon's hand first and cut his palm, she positioned his hand over the ice bucket bowl so the blood would drip in there. Then she took my hand and did the same.

As they chanted, I swore Liz and Kyle were fading. I wanted to say something, tell Simon and Tori to stop, but they continued to look excited. So they must have known this was going to happen.

They finished their chant and Tori quickly flipped the page. They started chanting something different and she slowly sprinkled the dirt in while tipping the ice bucket around to stir it. I looked back to where Liz and Kyle were and they were fuzzy. As Tori and Simon repeated the phrase, Liz and Kyle gradually became less and less fuzzy

I glanced over to Derek and he was staring in the direction of Liz and Kyle too, jaw dropped. Was he seeing them too?! I wanted badly to say something but couldn't interrupt Tori and Simon.

Liz and Kyle came into focus more and more. Liz's smile was huge. Tori and Simon finished, they had no more dirt to sprinkle in. Tori picked up washcloths and set one in my hand and one in Simon's to help with bleeding.

Simon, like Derek, seemed to be staring and Liz and Kyle. I cleared my throat so Tori would look up from the book. As she did, her eyes fell on the two new figures in the room.

"Oh my god," she said slowly.

"You guys can see them too?" I finally asked.

Liz finally couldn't contain her excitement anymore, she tackled Tori in a hug. She was touching Tori! Liz hugged her tightly.

"Thank you! You did it!"

Tori was temporarily shocked and didn't know how to answer. She knew that she was doing that spell for them but she didn't know that it would do this. But was this exactly?

I looked back at Kyle, "What was that spell?"

"Liz found it in the book, we're kind of alive again. We've been linked to those who's blood was used and for as long as they're alive, so are we."

"Why didn't you guys just tell us?" I asked.

Liz sat beside Tori, "Because the looks on your guys' faces, seeing us for the first time."

It took everyone a while to come out of the shock. While they were all talking, I went to check on Jeremy.

I shook his shoulder gently, "Jeremy."

He mumbled, "Mmmm..."

"Wake up," I said. "You need to eat something."

"Ok," he opened his eyes a slit.

I put the back of my hand on his forehead, he didn't feel hot anymore. I look that as a good sign. Jeremy sat up.

"How're you feeling?"

He shrugged, "A little better."

"Good," I smiled and extended a hand. "Let's go get that food."

Jeremy took my hand and got up. I lead him over to the mini fridge and he got a bottle of water and some of our snacks we stockpiled from the vending machine. Leaned against the mini fridge and started eating. I glanced over at Derek who was watching me out of the corner of his eye. He still obviously didn't trust Jeremy. I smiled at him though and he smiled back.


	36. Feeling Couped Up

**Don't worry about it if the offer/proposal doesn't sound familiar, it was initially brought up a while ago. Matt told Chloe that his time in safe houses is up and he needs to get back out to the world. He asked if she, and family, wants to get away from this life of jumping safe house to safe house and come with him. Battle vampires and monsters like he used to do. It would turn the story into something completely different if they went with him and I would probably have to drop a few characters to make it manageable so that's why I wanted to hear from my readers if they want her going with him. We can keep going with the safe houses pattern if everyone likes how the stories been. I'm just worried its seeming repetitive.**

"Why don't you take him under your wing?" I asked Derek as we sat back watching everyone.

Jeremy was snacking and watching television. Liz and Tori were talking at ninety miles a second, excited to be back together. Simon and Kyle were finally meeting face to face and seemed to be getting along.

"I know you two weren't the biggest fans of each other," I continued. "But he's going to need some help and guidance through this. Just like I did."

Derek shrugged; the idea didn't thrill him but he knew that Jeremy would need someone.

"Why can't Tess or Elijah do it?" Derek offered.

"You've seen how Jeremy can be with adults," I said. "It wouldn't go over well if one of them tried to tell him what he can and can't do now."

Derek smirked; he was the same way with authority figures. "Fine, I'll try."

I smiled relieved.

"When were you going to mention Matt's offer to me?" Derek asked. "You weren't going to leave us again were you?"

My smile disappeared, "I wasn't going to leave you guys. I didn't say anything because I didn't think that it would become real."

"Well now that it is…" Derek trailed off. Waiting for me to say yes or no to the offer.

"I still don't know," I admitted. "It would be nice to have purpose again. I'm tired of running from safe house to safe house. I can't live this way forever."

Derek nodded, "I know exactly what you mean. What's holding you back?"

"People," I answered. "I don't want to leave people behind. Like Tess. Or you guys. What if you guys don't want to go?"

Derek smiled.

"What?"

"Don't you think we are going stir crazy too?" He asked. "Of course we'd want to come on the adventure."

I smiled and hugged him.

The rest of our day was pretty much going to be waiting for the adults to come back. We introduced Jeremy to our ghost? friends Liz and Kyle. Were they ghosts anymore? I don't know. Then we tried to pass the time watching television or playing card games. We all had ants in our pants now. No one wanted to stick around this room all day.

"We could go swimming," Simon suggested.

"With what bathing suits?" Tori asked.

"Oh, right," Simon frowned.

"Hey," Jeremy leaned over to me. I knew what he was going to say before he said it, I could hear his stomach from here. That brand new werewolf appetite was a killer. "Can we go get more food from the vending machine?"

I nodded and stood up, "We're going to get more snacks while you guys decide."

Jeremy and I stepped out into the hallway.

"Thanks," he smiled. "I am just starving."

"I know the feeling," I said as we walked. "Derek's more than willing to help you too. Don't be afraid to ask him about anything."

Jeremy chuckled at the idea of asking Derek for help. I let it slide knowing eventually there would be something I couldn't help him with and he would have to ask Derek.

We got to the vending machines at the end of the hall and Jeremy put the last of our money in it. He punched in the numbers and I knelt down to grab them from the bottom. Once my hands were full I stood back up and turned. Jeremy grabbed my shoulder as I turned and pushed my back against the vending machine. Before I could say a word, he was kissing me again.

I dropped the food and pushed him back, "What're you doing?!"

Jeremy looked as surprised as I was.

"I…uh…I don't know what came over me…I'm sorry…"

I bent down and picked up what dropped, "You need to watch your instincts better."

Without another word, I walked back to the room. Jeremy trailed behind me confused and nervous.

To be honest, I don't know how I felt about that. I couldn't pinpoint if I was angry or upset or what.

I walked into the room, dropped the food on the mini fridge and walked into the bathroom. Shutting the door a little harder than I should have. What was Jeremy thinking?! Why would he do that? I had to tell Derek. Regardless of repercussion, he needed to know.

I walked up to the sink and reached out to turn the water on. My arm spasmed and I missed the faucet, hitting the soap dispenser instead. Crap. I took a deep breath. Now was not the time for this, we were in a building full of humans.

There was a knock on the door from Derek, "Chloe, you ok?"

"Yep," I responded quickly.

A sharp pain shot up my back to my neck. I bit my tongue; I hadn't done this enough yet for it to be easy. Breathe, I told myself, just breathe.


	37. Instincts

Derek opened the bathroom door, they'd been hearing noises and she'd been in there for a while now. He didn't know what to expect but he certainly didn't expect to walk into a wolf laying in the tub.

Derek quickly shut the door and came over to me.

"Chloe," he kept his voice down.

I kept my eyes shut but Derek knew I was awake.

"What happened?" He asked. He laid a hand gently on my back, digging his fingers past the coarse fur down to the soft fur. He massaged little circles trying to relax me without treating me like a dog.

I looked up at him and did my best to imitate a raised eyebrow look. What happened was obvious, I changed.

Derek got the message and rolled his eyes, "You know I mean what made this happen?"

I sighed, well at least I didn't have to put it into words. I could use our telepathic connection. I closed my eyes and showed what happened at the vending machine. Derek saw it and his grip on my fur tightened. His face darkened with anger but he didn't move. I expected him to barge out and hit Jeremy, I didn't know how to react to this angered silence.

I nudged his hand trying to get him to say or do something. Derek looked down at me.

"I'm not mad at you." He said. "I know you didn't ask for that."

I flinched against his grip on my fur, it was starting to hurt. He let go and grabbed a fistful of his pants instead. I just watched him, waiting for him to blow. Derek was furious but containing himself well.

He took a deep breath, "We need to get you out of here before any humans see."

Derek pulled the screen out of the window and opened it as much as he could.

"There's no woods around here but there's a cemetery on the other side of the parking lot. There's got to be a mausoleum we can wait out in."

I got through the window no problem with me being small but Derek found that he couldn't. He told me that he would meet me there in a minute. As I darted between cars I wondered if this was Derek's way of getting me out of the room so I wouldn't see him beat Jeremy. As angry as I was at Jeremy, I was worried about him getting hurt.

It was hard getting to the cemetery in broad daylight but I made it and found a small crumbling mausoleum way in the back. I couldn't do anything now but wait.

I waited and waited and waited. No idea how much time had passed before I finally heard footsteps coming my way. I waited, it could be Derek or a person visiting a relative's grave. I wouldn't want to expose myself to a random human.

The footsteps wandered without direction for a minute. They picked up into a run right by my hiding spot. Either Derek had found me or I was in for trouble.

"Chloe?!" A voice whisper yelled but not the voice I was expecting. Jeremy?!

I poked my head out an inch and whistled as best as I could. Jeremy spotted me and ran over to the crumbling building. Before he got to me, I saw the blood. Derek did let him have it. His right eye was already turning black and blue and his lip was busted open, dripping blood down his chin. Jeremy crouched down beside me with a smile.

"You should see the other guy," he joked.

I glared at him.

"We've got to keep moving," Jeremy said.

I shook my head, this is where Derek said to be.

"Come on Chloe," Jeremy begged. "Do you want Derek to beat the snot out of me again? We need to move."

I didn't know an expression to convey 'this is between you two' so I didn't know what to do here. I wished I could still speak.

Jeremy must have thought he heard someone coming because he jerked his head down to hide more. His hands immediately went to his nose.

"I think he broke it," Jeremy hissed.

I wanted to pull a ghost from a grave and have them keep lookout for us but how would I be able to communicate with them? I sighed, all these powers and right now I felt useless.

**Third Person back at the motel.**

Chloe got through the window easily but there was no way that Derek was going to fit through. He wanted her out of here in case a cleaning crew came by. He couldn't risk her being seen. But he also wanted out of motel for a bit. If he stuck around here much longer he was going to lose his temper. Derek had been working really hard on being more than a werewolf. He wanted to prove to himself that he was more than his instincts. So far he'd been better, holding his tongue when he wanted to yell at people.

Derek stepped out of the bathroom and all eyes were on him.

"What's going on?" Simon asked.

Derek pointed a finger at Jeremy but didn't look at him.

"Ask him."

Jeremy seemed surprised but didn't speak. Derek turned towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Simon asked.

"Chloe's at the cemetery," Derek said. "I'm going to go get her."

His voice gave away that he was struggling with keeping calm.

"What does that have to do with me?" Jeremy asked, not picking up on Derek trying to stay calm.

The sound of Jeremy's voice was just enough to push Derek over the edge. He whipped around, made eye contact with Jeremy and his fist curled. He got in Jeremy's face and let lose. Hitting Jeremy repeatedly before Simon grabbed hold of his arm and forced Derek off of Jeremy. Simon was doing his best to hold him back as Jeremy ran out the door. Derek heard someone tell Jeremy to go to the adult's motel room. Derek struggled out of Simon's grip.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Simon shouted.

"You should be asking him that," Derek growled.

"Well I'm asking you," Simon snapped back.

"He forced Chloe to kiss him," he growled.

"You don't beat the daylight out of someone for that."

"Watch me," Derek turned back towards the door.

Simon grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"You aren't going anywhere."

"What about Chloe?" Derek said. "She's waiting for me."

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself." Simon pushed Derek towards the couch.

It wasn't normal for Simon to stand up to Derek like this or even to attempt getting physical with him but he knew right now that he needed to be firm.


	38. The adults are back

**I updated the previous chapter to make a little more sense, I initially said Derek blacked out from his anger because I was trying to keep it simple and non-graphic for the younger readers. But I think my update still manages to be appropriate and make more sense.**

**Speaking of making things appropriate, I've put a lot of thought into a suggestion that was made a while back about making characters more intimate. What I'm going to do with the next chapter is post my normal one that's good for young readers and have a second version written that's available to readers who message me requesting to read it. Whenever I do two chapters like this (it won't be every single chapter obviously) (if it's requested enough, I won't write them if no one asks to read them), I will put an authors note at the beginning to let readers know. **

Every time Derek stood up; Simon ordered him to sit back down. Simon thought Chloe would be fine on her own and come back when she wanted to. Derek didn't tell him why she was at the cemetery.

There was a knock at the door, Tori opened it. It was Matt, the adults must have gotten back.

"Hey," Matt said. "Can you guys come over so we can fill everyone in."

Tori nodded, "We'll be just a second."

Matt turned and went into the other motel room. Tori turned around and looked at Simon as the door swung shut.

"I think you should let him go get Chloe now. Before we get in trouble for people leaving the motel."

Simon turned to Derek and nodded. Derek didn't need to be told again, he was up and out the door in less than a second. Tori looked at Liz and Kyle.

"What?" Liz asked curiously.

"How are we going to explain you two?" Tori asked.

"The truth," Kyle said. "Lies lead to more problems, just rip the bandaide off now."

Simon smiled, "I'll say it again, I like him."

Kyle's smile was huge, he loved having a new friend.

They stepped across the hall and into the new room. Everyone was back but Simon noticed there was no sign of Jeremy.

"Where's Jeremy?" Simon asked.

Elijah raised an eyebrow, "He wasn't with you?"

Simon shook his head, "No we told him to come over to this room."

Tess interrupted, "Where's Chloe?"

"With Derek," Tori answered. "Derek's cooling off still."

At the mention of his son, Kit looked up from his phone. He noticed new faces that shouldn't be there standing behind Simon. Kit stood up.

"Who's that?"

"My names Kyle," Kyle spoke first, Liz seemed really nervous. "I guess you could say I'm an old friend of Chloe's."

Kit stared at Liz waiting for an answer.

"Liz," she squeaked out.

The names rang a bell. Where had he heard them before…?

"Good lord," he said when it clicked.

"What?" All the adults were asking.

"They're dead!" Kit exclaimed. His eyes landed on Simon and Tori. "What have you kids done?!"

"We helped them," Tori replied. "They're alive again."

Tess looked worried now, "Y'all were doing magic when we weren't here? What if you'd been caught?"

"We weren't," Simon said. "So it's ok."

"Ok?! Its not ok to bring back the dead! You two are not necromancers. Leave it that way."

**Out at the cemetery**

Derek rushed out to the cemetery and looked for the nearest mausoleum, the first one he found was locked. The next one he found was in ruins but had Chloe and Jeremy's scent around it. A growl rumbled through Derek's chest at the thought of Jeremy being alone with Chloe. He wasn't going to let him lay a hand on her again.

Derek followed their scents to the back of the cemetery. They crossed the wooden fence and then faded as they crossed into the parking lot of a strip mall. Too many cars had passed by and destroyed the scent trail.

Derek cursed to himself, this wasn't good. He tried walking around the edge of the parking lot but couldn't pick it up again.

He jogged back to the motel, as much as he hated it, he was going to have to tell them. Derek stepped inside and felt the anger rising in him again. Jeremy was a dead man if he ever saw him again. There was no way Chloe went with him willingly after what he did.

The door across the hall was slightly ajar, Derek could hear the voices coming from there so he stepped in.

"Where have you been?" Kit snapped at him. Something had set him off.

"Looking for Chloe," Derek answered. He dug his bloody knuckled hands into his pockets before his dad could see them.

"Where is she?" Tess asked worriedly.

Derek shrugged, "Jeremy took off with her."

Kit looked so angry he didn't know what to do with his body. His arms kept shifting as he paced.

"What in gods name did you kids do while we were gone?!"

"Now hold on," Elijah stepped in. "We can point fingers later. We need to find those two before they get too far."

Derek nodded, "Their scents disappeared at the strip mall parking lot."

"Alright, some of us are staying here in case they come back and some of us are going to go out looking. We'll start but going through the stores first."

**Chloe's POV**

I had climbed into the back of a semi-truck behind the strip mall and changed back to human. Jeremy had found me a t-shirt and a pair of pants from one of the boxes in here. Luckily, this semi must have been for the clothing store.

I sat breathing heavily, leaning against a cardboard box, small snowflakes floated down but I was radiating heat from changing.

"I'll never get used to watching that," Jeremy said softly.

I looked over at him, he was trying not to show that he was shivering. Jeremy was only in a t-shirt and old ruined jeans. The light showed more bruises on his arms than I saw earlier.

"Come here," I said.

Jeremy looked at me confused.

"Come here," I repeated.

Once he did, he felt the heat radiating from me and understood. Jeremy sat beside me and stopped shivering. My eyelids drooped for a second.

"You're exhausted," Jeremy said. "Get some rest."

I shook my head, "We need to go back."

"I'm not going back until Derek's cooled off," Jeremy stated.

Well at least that wasn't an 'I'm never going back,' I thought to myself.

"Can you blame him for being angry at what you did?" I asked.

"I didn't mean to. I don't know what came over me, I had no control."

"That's called instinct," I explained tiredly. "You need to keep it in check, instinct with free reign causes problems."

"I see that," Jeremy sighed.

"Please, let's go back."

Jeremy looked at me with a serious expression, "Why do you want to go back to a guy who's physically abusive?"

"Abusive?" I said shocked. "Derek's far from that."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow, "He's killed people Chloe. He's beaten the hell out of me and countless others. He's hurt you on occasion."

"Self-defense and accidents," I pointed out.

"At some point you can't make excuses for him anymore."

I glared at Jeremy, Derek was the furthest thing from abusive. He'd made mistakes in the past yeah, but which one of us hasn't? He was kind and caring and loved me and took care of me. I stood up shakily.

Jeremy shot up too, "What're you doing? You need to rest."

I turned to argue with Jeremy some more but the semi rumbled to life, knocking the strength out of my legs. I fell back down and wacked my head on the cold steel floor.

Jeremy quickly pulled me off the semi before it started to move and sat me on the ground. Everything was blurry and my forehead felt wet. I don't know if it was snow or blood.


	39. Matt vs Kit

**Like stated in the previous chapter, we're going to give this a try. Here's the normal chapter and readers can message me for the alternate version if they want.**

"Are you ok?" Jeremy asked panicking. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

I tried to focus on what I thought were his fingers.

"Uh three?" I guessed.

His worried sigh told me my guess was wrong.

"You win," he snaked an arm under my shoulder to stand me up. "We're going back. You need help, I don't know how to patch a head wound."

"Jeremy!" Came from the distance, footsteps started approaching.

I tried to walk towards it and started slipping in the snow.

"Chloe!" Jeremy hissed. "Hold on a second."

The footsteps came up to us.

"What on earth are you two doing out here?" It was Elijah's voice.

"Does that really matter right now?" Jeremy asked. "She needs help, she hit her head hard."

Elijah grabbed my chin gently and tilted my head around. His face came into focus more.

"You're bleeding pretty good but it's not a deep cut. You'll be alright by tomorrow. I'm more concerned that you are burning up."

"She changed again," Jeremy answered for me.

"Again?" Elijah finally took a good look at Jeremy and saw all the cuts bruises and dried blood. He might have put together that we fought but I wasn't going to try to clarify anything right now. "Jesus you two. Lets get you both out of the cold."

Elijah went to grab me from Jeremy, probably to carry me back. But I refused to be the damsel in distress. Plus Jeremy needed my heat.

"No," I said to Elijah. "Jeremy's got me."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't argue. We started walking back towards the motel.

"What on earth happened while I was gone?" He asked.

"The short version," I said. "Is I changed, Derek and Jeremy fought. Jeremy found me and stayed with me when I changed back."

Elijah held the door open for us. I could tell he had a lot of questions but knew they could wait. The carpet felt thick and crunchy under my feet. I just realized that I wasn't wearing shoes.

"How mad is he still?" Jeremy asked Elijah.

Elijah smiled, "Yeah, I wouldn't go in the same room as him yet."

He opened our motel room door for us. Jeremy and I sat on the edge of the bed while Elijah grabbed the medical kit. I hissed in pain as he disinfected and bandaged my forehead.

"You're lucky you're just dazed and didn't get a bad concussion," Elijah said. "Wolf or human, you shouldn't have left the motel." He started cleaning up the blood on Jeremy and looked back at me. "And raising the dead, Chloe? What were you thinking? They aren't corpses you can control."

"I didn't do it," I interrupted.

Elijah was genuinely surprised. I don't blame him, it would make sense that the necromancer did it. Jeremy hissed as Elijah wiped the blood off his nose. Before Elijah could say anything, we could hear shouting come from the hall. A door slammed and our door flew open.

Derek's eyes landed on my bandage, he growled at Jeremy, "Oh you're dead."

"Derek," Elijah shouted before Derek made a move. "Stop being a child. Maybe make sure she's okay first?"

He glared at Elijah for giving him orders but came over to me and pulled me onto his lap.

"Are you ok?" He asked me.

I nodded, "I hit my head on a semi floor. Jeremy didn't hurt me."

Derek took a deep breath as some of the tension left him. He held me tightly and forgot Jeremy was there for a moment. It clicked in his head that I was human again.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help," he said.

"I'm alright," I promised.

"You were brainwashed last time you changed," Derek said. "What if this brings some of it back?"

"Then we deal with it as it comes," Elijah said.

Jeremy flinched again as Elijah put disinfectant on a cut. Derek's fingers curled into a fist.

"Derek," I put my hand on his. "You can't keep punishing him for what happened. One punishment is plenty."

He forced his hand to relax, "Ok."

Elijah stood, "If you all can behave, we can go back to everyone else."

We joined everyone back in the other motel room. Tess nearly ran me over when she came to give me a hug.

"I'm so glad that you're ok," she said as she hugged me tightly.

With so many people in the room, all the seating was pretty much taken. I sat down on floor in front of the dresser and Derek sat beside me. He was going to be glued to me, I could tell. To my surprise though, Jeremy sat on my other side. He looked over at me and smiled, he was trying to show no fear of Derek.

"Ok," Kit stood. "So we removed the spells done to Tess' home but we aren't too sure about removing stuff from the house still. If anyone wants to take their stuff, we recommend extreme caution and check it a dozen times for any traces of tracking spells or tracking equipment. We want this Edison Group crap to be done and over with. It's about time you kids had a normal life."

"What about Matt's-" I started.

"No," Kit interrupted. "I'm not having you kids join a half demon in some vampire hunting."

Matt, who was leaning against the windowsill behind Kit, rolled his eyes, "It's their decision. They're old enough."

"No they aren't," Kit shook his head. "If they can't even get along without our supervision, what makes you think they can fight monsters together?"

"What makes you think you can speak for all of them?" Matt rebuttaled. "You're only the father of two of them."

That tripped up Kit, he didn't have a quick comeback.

Matt looked over at me, "What are you guys thinking?"

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life jumping from safe house to safe house," I said. "I want to have something to do again. Some sort of goal or purpose."

"School," Kit suggested.

I shrugged, "What's the point of school? I'll never be allowed to lead a normal life even with a diploma."

Matt looked around at Simon, Derek, Jeremy, and Tori, they all nodded agreeing with me. Even Kyle and Liz.

Kit threw up his hands in defeat, "I guess I'm out numbered here."

Matt smiled, "I guess so."


	40. Find your Chloe

I guess that was that, we were going vampire hunting with Matt. I looked around at the room. Kit was on the verge of being furious with Matt winning. Tess and Elijah looked a bit worried. But not in a 'I don't want you to do this' way, it was more of an 'I don't want my family to get hurt' way. Matt looked over at me and smiled. I think as much as he loved his work as the worlds best vampire hunter, it was lonely. He must be happy to have the company. Even if we were just inexperienced teens. I wondered how old Matt was, had he told me before? I couldn't remember.

"What're you going to do?" I broke the silence asking Tess.

She smiled, "I've invested a lot of time and money into that property. I'm not letting them scare me off of it."

I smiled back, good for her.

"Alright,' Elijah said. "Gather up anything you've got and let's hit the road."

Everyone got up and dispersed. Kyle grabbed me in the hallway and pulled me aside. It was going to take some getting used to that he could touch now.

"What happened out there?"

I tried to figure out a way to put it.

"I lost a fight against the floor of a semi-truck," I chuckled.

"Well I'm always here if you need someone to talk to," Kyle said. "You know I was there for all the Pack stuff. I know a bit about what you might be feeling."

I playfully bumped him on the shoulder, "Both pack incidents."

"Come on," Derek interrupted as he stepped out of the room.

The adults had grabbed one of the cars from the house so we wouldn't have to make two trips again. I followed Derek into one car and Jeremy went to climb in after me. Elijah grabbed him and stopped him.

"Are you trying to start more stuff?" Elijah asked.

Jeremy shook his head, "I need to talk to him."

"It's ok," Derek said. "I'm not going to hurt him again."

Derek squeezed my hand as he said it. Was he telling that to me or Elijah?

Elijah let go of Jeremy.

"Alright but I swear if I see one raised hand, you three will be in big trouble," he threatened.

Elijah got in the driver's seat, Tess in the passenger. Jeremy slid in, shook off the snow, and shut the door.

"Well?" Derek asked letting go of my hand and putting his arm across the seat behind me.

Jeremy tried to make eye contact but kept glancing down at his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I… I guess… I lost control for a second… I don't have this whole werewolf thing figured out yet… I'm not trying to make excuses; I'm trying to explain…"

"Hey," Derek shrugged. "We both lost control."

"I need help," Jeremy said looking down. "I…"

"It's not supposed to be easy," Derek said. "Control takes practice. Lots of it."

"Help me practice," Jeremy asked.

Derek was quiet, thinking about his answer.

"Alright," he nodded.

Jeremy's whole body visibly relaxed. It must not have been easy for him to admit he needed help, especially to the person who beat him up earlier today.

"One of the first things you need to do," Derek said. "Is find your Chloe. Find your person or thing that pulls you back from that edge. That is your reason for not losing control. That will never fail in calming you down. It's not something you'll find by tomorrow night. It may not be something you find this month. But when you find it, you'll know because you'll never want to let it go. You'll feel empty and hollow without it."

"If that takes so long, why's that the first thing?" Jeremy asked.

"Because you need to start looking out for it right away," Derek explained. "Because if you let that thing slip through your fingers. You might never get it back and there's no replacing it. You could have to live with that emptiness forever. Never have a reason not to lose control. And if you hit that point, the downward spiral is fast and destructive."


	41. Chapter 41

**So sorry Thatreader2003! I didn't receive your message. I've emailed support to see if there's a problem with my account or this is a bug many people are dealing with. I've messaged you the chapter, let me know if you receive it! If anyone else has messaged me for the alternate chapter, please let know!  
**

We arrived back at Tess' home, I chuckled to myself as I saw Liz and Tori get out of the other car. Lost in their own world, I swear the two haven't stopped talking to each other. I was glad to see Tori having a close friend again, out of the four of us; she'd always sort of been on the outside. I had Derek, Derek and Simon had each other, Tori didn't have anyone close.

I walked up to my bedroom deep in thought, I knew how much Derek cared about me but that might have been the first time he'd put it into words. They ran through my head making me feel warm and loved.

I looked around the room, Tess had gotten me so much stuff over my stay here. What was I going to take? I probably couldn't take more than a suitcase or backpack.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. I turned around and saw Tess.

"This is your home," she said. "And this is your room. Whatever you leave behind is not going anywhere."

"Someone might need the space," I started.

She shook her head, "No arguing with me on this. This room is yours." She smiled, "Chloe, biological or not. You're like a daughter to me. And mothers always keep a room for when their daughters come home to visit."

I came up to her and hugged her tightly. Unable to put into words how grateful I was that I had met her. Tess helped me pick out what clothes and stuff I should bring and she showed me how to pack my backpack to make it all fit.

We came back downstairs and I set my backpack with the others in the living room. Matt and Elijah were already hard at work in the kitchen when we came down. They insisted we had a big feast for dinner. One by one we all joined in to help. I cut vegetables, Kyle cut up fruit, Liz and Tori mixed jug after jug of lemonades and teas. Derek helped cook the meat. Simon and Liz tried to keep up with the dishes. We had music playing off Tess' old radio but we could barely hear it over everyone talking and dishes clanking. Tess and Kit "set the table" by putting out blankets in the living room with plates and silverware on the corners like a picnic. There was one shreds left of her actual dining table.

When all the food was ready and every had their plates overflowing, Tess stood from her spot.

"Before we eat, I have little presents for you guys," She passed us similar small boxes.

We all exchanged looks of confusion before opening them. Phones. Tess got all seven of us phones. We erupted with excitement and immediately started exchanging numbers with each other. Tori and Liz of course started taking pictures together.

"How on earth did you afford to do that?" Elijah asked astonished.

Tess just smiled ear to ear, "Don't worry about it."

She flew a little paper airplane my way with her number written on the wing. I added her to my contacts immediately. I didn't know what to think or do or say, I was at a complete loss of words. Tess was going above and beyond.

Everyone dug into their food, even if we were amateur cooks, I was going to miss home cooked meals. It was better than the best five star restaurant.

By the end of dinner, everyone was stuffed and didn't want to move. We decided the rest of the dishes were tomorrow's problem and Kit hooked the television back up to watch a movie. When the movie was over with, nearly everyone was asleep for the night.

Matt smiled at me, "Excited for some adventure?"

I nodded then remembered a question I had for him at the motel.

"Matt, how old are you?" I asked.

He chuckled, "I'm demonic, I'd say I still have a few centuries left in me."

My eyes widened, I couldn't tell if he was messing with me or telling the truth.

"How many centuries have you been alive?"

Matt just winked and stood up to go use the bathroom and get ready to go to sleep.


	42. On the road

**Thank you for the hype Thatreader2003 lol that means a lot to me. But I don't know if it's really that good XD. I'm new to writing like that.**

**So Support hasn't gotten back to me yet on the messaging issue and it's against the story guidelines to post these chapters in a separate story. So I guess what we are going to do in the meantime is if you are interested, I will set up a forum with the alternate chapters posted. Hopefully that doesn't break any guidelines.**

**I am willing to put my email out here if people would prefer emailing rather than a forum. I don't have any personal identification info in my email name so I don't mind sharing it with you guys.**

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**Also, I recognize that realistically Kit would have gone with them since he doesn't trust his boys out on their own yet but that's just too many characters so I apologize for that plot hole. Maybe I'll have him pop in periodically to check on them to make up for that plot hole.**

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The next morning we said our goodbyes and gathered our things. Tess made me promise to come back and visit as soon as I could. With so many of us in the car it was going to be a little cramped but no one really minded. We were excited to start something new. As we walked out the door, Matt sat in an old midnight blue car that must have been hidden somewhere on the property. The two rows of seats had been replaced at some point with bench seats so fitting multiple people wasn't so cramped. Matt told us that this car is under every type of cloaking and anti-tracking spell he knew. He opened the trunk for us to set our bags in and everyone's jaws dropped. The trunk was neatly lined with guns, bullets, knives, and swords.

"This is insane," Jeremy was the first to finally say something.

Matt tried not to smile with pride. "Yep."

Carefully we all set our bags down in the trunk and got in. Matt in the drivers spot, Tori sat in the passengers, Liz and Kyle in between them. On the back bench it went Simon, Me, Derek, Jeremy.

I expected the car to roar to life but it purred quietly. Matt must have done all sorts of stuff to this car over the years. He shifted into drive and off we went. I took a shaky deep breath.

"Nervous?" Simon asked me.

"Is it that obvious?" I laughed.

"Don't worry, we all are. This is a complete 180 from the life we have been living."

Kyle turned around and looked at Simon, he mouthed 'help me.' Simon and I laughed, he already couldn't stand the two girls gossiping away right next to him.

"Sorry," Simon smiled. "There's so escape now."

Kyle dramatically dropped his head down onto the seat.

"Oh cruel world," Kyle coughed.

Ever since Jeremy admitted he needed help, he and Derek had started talking more. I knew eventually those two would be at each others throats again, with how Derek pushed away those close to him and how Jeremy eventually got on everyone's nerves. But it was nice seeing them get along for now.

Jeremy was talking about how this was so different from when he was a half-demon. All of his strength and power as a half demon came from magic and came in surges. But now the strength was physically in him and was connected to his emotion. It was so foreign to him that he felt like he didn't have control over his body in a way.

Derek might make a good werewolf therapist, I thought to myself. He's had all the experiences and he was a great listener when he wanted to be. Like now, he just listened to Jeremy talk and only said something here and there to nudge Jeremy to find the conclusion himself.

With everyone else in conversations, I leaned forward and tapped Matt on the shoulder.

"Where are we going?" I asked him.

Matt thought before answering.

"Well, as Simon told you; no one knows my real identity."

I nodded.

"So, we're headed out to South Carolina where I have some contacts. They've never met me in person but they used to be my main source of information here in the US. They'd send all reports of vampire activity my way."

"Why are we heading there if they've never met you in person before?" I asked.

"Because I like to be in the area when I talk to my contacts in case something happens to them. They take a big risk when they send information my way."

"Are you going to tell them about us?"

Matt shrugged, "I'm not sure yet. I'll probably wait on that. They'll have enough on their hands with me coming out of hiding."

I nodded, "Yeah, doesn't no one know what happened to you? Like they didn't know if you went into hiding or got killed or retired?"

Matt nodded back, "Yep. That was the safest way to go into hiding. Don't let a soul know that you're doing it."

"So where will you say you've been all this time?"

Matt thought again, "Researching. The persona I've built in talking with my contacts is short to the point statements with little detail. The more mysterious I am to them, the less they know about me. And the less people know, the better because that means even less can be used against me."

"So what drove you away from fighting the Arizona vampires? Did they have something to use against you?"

Matt's expression saddened, "Yes."

I wanted to ask what it was but couldn't bring myself to with that look on his face.


	43. Flashback

**So the forum would work for anyone writing darkest powers stories. I don't want it to just be me. I have a thread for my story with the alternate chapter posted in it and people can read it and reply comments or suggestions, criticisms, whatever. It won't let me post a link so it's**** simply called Darkest Powers so you can search it.**

**And for anyone wanting to go the email route, my email is bluej6377(at sign)gmail(.com) It also wont let me post the email address so I've spelled it lol. I encourage people not to put your emails out on here in reviews, I don't want anyone to get their email hacked or stolen or whatnot! I have this email account specifically for writing website accounts and corresponding so no personal information is connected to it.**

* * *

**You'll figure out who it is as you read, I don't want to spoil it. But fair warning this isn't Chloe's point of view.**

My feet pounded across the cement as I ran. I could barely see in this dark warehouse. Another scream ahead of me. I turned a corner following it, panicking, trying to catch up, just now noticing how heavily I was breathing.

Someone else noticed too. A figure dropped from their hiding place in the ceiling and onto me. I fell to the ground and immediately tried to wrestle my way on top unsuccessfully.

"Someone's not such a great hunter without their knife," the vampire mocked.

I managed to get my right leg free and knee him in the chest. The vampire flashed his fangs and hissed at me. I kneed him again before he could grab my leg. This time pushing him off.

I scrambled to my feet and started drawing in magic as fast as I could. I formed the magic into a bright shinning ball and threw it at the vampire as he charged me.

I didn't wait to see if he was unconscious or just stunned, I took off running again, using my magic to muffle the sounds of my feet and breathing. I wasn't hearing screams anymore but I could hear the sounds of the vampires snarling and hissing somewhere ahead.

The vampires had picked one heck of an intricate warehouse to hole up in. The place was a cruel joke of maze like hallways. I approached a set of heavy steel doors. They looked like they'd be rusted shut but a slow cold breeze leaked through telling me it wasn't.

I forced myself to slow down I needed to go about this rationally not barge in.

The air felt heavy as I tried to breath quietly. Listening for movement on the other side.

The sound of a long slow inhale and a low chuckle.

"Come out come out wherever you are," the vampire sang. "You know we love to play."

A girl's scream rang out in terror again as she struggled against her captors.

"Shut up!" A different vampire shouted and the sound of slapping.

"Why won't you come out and play?" The first vampire called out to me.

"Please Boss? I want to do it now."

The ruffle of fabric from the vampire shaking his head no.

I readied myself to burst into the room. Testing the door to see how badly it would squeak. I made it two or three inches before a low creak rang out through the silent room.

"There you are." I could hear the hunger in the vampire's voice. The scuff of his foot turning. "Go ahead Sam."

I flung the door open. The vampire named Sam's teeth sunk deep into her neck.

"Lydia!" I screamed and charged. "No!"

"DADDY!" She screamed.

The word echoed through my head as I snapped back to reality. The car behind us honked. I realized we were sitting at a stop sign and put my foot back on the gas.

I didn't want to look away from the road, I could feel the eyes on me. How long had I been sitting there? Did I say anything out loud?

"Everything okay?" Simon asked me.

"Yeah, why?" I asked casually.

"You seemed out of it there for a minute," he answered.

I shrugged it off, though I was still hearing the scream echo around my head, "Just got lost in thought. What's your guys' favorite radio station?"

I clicked the on button and started tuning it around until Tori told me to stop on 88.6 her favorite song was on.

**Back to Chloe's POV**

We all looked at Matt worriedly, he'd sat there perfectly still with a horrified look in his face for over two minutes now. We tried saying something to him but he didn't react until the car behind us honked. Matt nearly jumped out of his own skin, he must've forgotten where he was for a second.

Simon asked him if he was ok and Matt said he was but we could tell he was just trying to avoid talking about something. Several of us exchanged concerned looked but no one said anything more. If Matt didn't want to talk about something, we weren't going to make him.


	44. Chapter 44

We pulled into a parking lot of a motel. Matt said we were on the outskirts of the town of his contacts and he didn't want to get much closer. We could have slept in the car, I'm sure that's what Matt was used to with this job, but it was too cramped to be comfortable now. Everyone climbed out grateful for the chance to stretch their legs. We wandered around the parking lot while Matt checked us in inside.

He came back out a minute later, "Lets go get some rest." He gave each of us a room key as we walked inside. "These are not permission to go wandering about in the middle of the night. These are for just in case of emergency."

The room Matt got was small but we were on a budget now. No more endless wallets of safe house money.

I kicked my shoes off and sat down on the bed. Why was I so tired? I hadn't done anything but sit in a car today. Maybe it was the excitement of this really happening. I don't know.

I quickly burrowed under the covers and fell asleep. Waking some time later to the sound of talking.

"How can I be sure this is really him?" The muffled voice asked. Matt was on the phone with his contact.

"Because I'm back," Matt said.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Eight years ago you and Scott came up with the phrase 'truly a heater' as code for there being a big nest of vampires."

"Anyone could know that. We aren't only contacts for the Bat Man."

"Just give me a location of a nest and you'll see."

I yawned and drifted back to sleep. Matt would have the location of one when we woke up tomorrow and we would be back in the car for who knows how long. I needed to sleep while I had the arm room.

Another noise woke me. I looked over to where Matt was and he was asleep. It wasn't him talking on the phone this time. I glanced at the small digital clock as my eyelids started to droop when I heard a grunt again. I sat up but no one else looked to be awake. Whoever it was, was likely in the bathroom trying to be quiet.

I got up and looked closely at all the blanket wrapped people, Simon was the only one I couldn't find.

I knocked softly on the bathroom door.

"Simon?" I said quietly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said but it wasn't convincing enough. I knew something wasn't right.

I turned the door handle to test it, Simon hadn't locked it. He realized this after I was opening the door.

"Chloe no," He begged.

I stepped in and quickly shut the door so the light wouldn't wake the others. Simon was gripping the edges of the sink with his head hanging down. Every visible muscle was tensed and the magic mark on his finger was burning bright red.

"What's going on?" I asked, walking up to him.

Simon looked up at me, his eyes were bloodshot from tension.

"The magic needs an outlet, its building up too much."

"Ok," I nodded. Sounded easy enough. "So let's do some spells then."

His arm tensed. "I have been, it's not helping."

I had an idea that was stupid but it might work.

"You probably need to do stronger spells then."

Simon chuckled, "Yeah? Like what?"

"Like healing spells," I suggested.

Before Simon could respond, I knocked the nearest razor off the counter and stomped on it as hard as I could with my bare foot. Breaking it and sending the blades deep into my skin. I bit down on my lip to keep from screaming.

"Chloe!" Simon realized what I had done.

He grabbed my foot and tried to dig out the razor blades with his fingers but couldn't get a grip with all the blood.

"Use magic," I told him.

Simon glared at me but did. He muttered a spell that pulled the razor blades and then set to work healing the wound and cleaning the bloody floor.

By the time Simon was done, the tension had left his body and his finger mark returned to normal.

"That was stupid," Simon said as he washed his hands.

"I know," I nodded. "But it worked, didn't it?"

I knew I wasn't going to get a thank you out of Simon for that, he was too angry at my willingness to jump into risky behavior. But he looked back to normal which was the important part.

If it wasn't for the blood loss, I would have stayed up to make sure Simon stayed ok and got some sleep. But I again fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.


	45. Tori and Liz's first time

**I'll be honest with you Thatreader2003, it did cross my mind to have something like that happen. I thought it would be an interesting avenue to explore. But I hesitated on it because it felt like repeating what's happened to this group over and over again instead of heading in this new direction. Who knows? Maybe they could slip up in the future? But for now at least it felt repetitive. **

I kept to myself as everyone ate breakfast. Making sure I stayed low and out of the way. Simon was still clearly unhappy with the way I helped. Not that I blame him.

"Alright, out with it," Derek said. "Somethings obviously up between you two. Who's going to spill it?"

Derek waited for me or Simon to say something but Matt cut us off.

"My contacts say there's a small nest only half an hour from here. A small one is better to train with. But I can't train all of you at the same time. Someone's bound to be killed if I have to keep eyes on everyone. So only two of you are coming with me today," Matt paused and looked around. "Liz and Victoria, are you two ready?"

They both nodded excited.

"Good, get washed up and let's hit the road in thirty minutes. As for the rest of you, I'm no dictator saying you have to stay in this room. Just don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. We've all got to learn to trust everyone's judgement so we aren't worrying about them while they aren't in our line of sight. We will be back before nightfall but the rule from here on out is if those hunting are not back in forty-eight hours; you contact Kit and Tess immediately and go home. This is not a game."

We all understood the seriousness of the situation but it was hard not to be excited. This was really happening. Tori and Liz were going to be the first ones to experience it.

Matt made sure they left in exactly thirty minutes. The vampires would be asleep by midday and it would be easier to take them down when they were sleeping.

Now it was just me, Derek, Simon, Jeremy, and Kyle.

"Is someone going to tell me?" Derek hadn't forgotten.

Simon rolled his eyes and sighed, "She helped me out with my magic last night when I didn't want her to. Can you let it go now?"

I'm sure if anyone else said that, Derek would have pushed. But with Simon he just nodded and dropped it.

"So what are we doing today while we wait?" Kyle popped into the conversation. "He said we can leave the motel as long as we aren't stupid. And I happen to think we have a smart bunch sitting here."

Jeremy perked up from his breakfast at the thought of going out and doing something. I shrugged, it'd been so long I didn't know what to just go out and do.

"What's in the theater right now?" Simon suggested.

None of us knew what was showing right now so we decided to go. At the least, the trip there and back would take up some time.

**Matt's POV**

The two girls were practically bouncing out of their seats on the drive there no matter how much I tried to address the seriousness of the situation. I hoped that experience would maybe be their teacher when we got there.

"Tori, I know you have your magic but I want you carrying this knife just in case," I said and handed one to her from the trunk. "Liz, since we aren't so sure about…what you are…right now. I want you to have two weapons."

"Ok," Liz nodded.

I handed her a long knife and a gun.

"I don't know how to shoot guns," she said.

"Learn," I replied. "You need a weapon for up close and one for distance."

I laid out a rough sketch of what the interior of the building looked like from what my contact told me.

"This building is a one story with a basement. So we don't have to worry about splitting up. We are going to enter through this doorway and go room by room. Most likely the vampires will be in the basement. My contact says there should be about two to four of them. Once we cover all these rooms, we will take this staircase down and go room by room again. Remember that these are vicious creatures not people. You cannot hesitate or you will get killed."

I think it was starting to get through to these girls because they were looking nervous.

"I'll go in first, Tori behind me to the left, Liz to the right. Remember to glance up every once 'n a while too, they are great climbers. Oh and Liz, do not shoot me in the back."

Liz nodded, she shoved the gun into her waistband and held the knife tightly.

With that, off we went. We approached the building being as light on our feet as we could. I entered through the door first. The hallway and three doors before the stairs. One by one we quickly checked the rooms and found nothing but dust. This place had been abandoned for a long time.

The girls were keeping quiet like they were supposed to and doing well. They both showed confidence as we crept down the staircase as quietly as possible. Something fell in the basement and I held up a hand for them to freeze. I peered around the corner and saw the basement had been renovated from the plans I had been given. It was all open space now, the walls had been taken down. Laying against the back wall away from the debris were the three vampires.

I realized that the girls may not be able to see as well as I could in the dark. I nodded to them that they needed to be ready. I counted with my fingers 3…2…1… and shot off a burst of magic towards the ceiling. It came crumbling with ease and exposed rays of sunlight. The vampire scampered to their feet.

I charged at the largest one with my sword, nicking his side as he dove out of the way. Tori cast a spell at the other vampire and dazed him. Liz, who I expected to be too shy to go through with hurting the vampires, charged at the remaining one and sank her knife into it's stomach.

I killed mine with a swift beheading as he charged at me to attack. Tori pounded her vampire with spells until she was sure it was dead.

The two girls looked at me in shock.

"Did this really just happen?" Liz asked me.

I nodded, "You two did good."

"I thought it would take longer," Tori said almost with a hint of disappointment. "That was over so fast."

"He did say this was a small and easy nest," Liz pointed out.

"So this is something you two want to keep doing?" I asked.

They both nodded, I smiled.


	46. Return

**It's been a minute since I have read the original books so I'm not actually quite sure what Liz's powers are besides levitating objects. That's all I can remember her being able to do.**

We'd been back from the movies for about an hour when Matt, Liz, and Tori came back. The looks on the girls faces as they came in were hard to place. The reality of what they had done to another living thing had set in yet the excitement of the adventure was still there.

"How did it go?" Kyle asked.

"Quicker than we expected," Liz admitted. "There were three of them."

"Who is next?" Simon asked Matt while Liz and Tori talked about their experience.

Matt looked around at all of us, his eyes hovered on me for a second.

"How about you and your brother?" Matt answered.

I had to admit that it felt like Matt was avoiding taking me out for my first vampire hunt. But I was probably overthinking it.

"When?" Derek asked.

Matt pulled out his cell phone, "Let me find out."

He dialed a number and walked over to the corner of the room away from all the talking. I turned to seem like I was listening to Tori and Liz tell their story like everyone else but I was focused on Matt's conversation.

"Well?" Matt asked.

"Holy mother," the voice said bubbling with excitement. "This really is him. Our sword wielding hunter is back from the grave!"

"Are you going to keep staring at the bodies or give me another location?"

"There's one an hour south of this nest. These three were originally from it but broke off."

"Text me the address," Matt said and hung up. He turned and interrupted Tori's storytelling. "We have another nest about an hour drive from here. We should strike before they realize their AWOL nest got attacked."

"It's getting late though," I pointed out. It was about five o'clock.

Matt looked at Simon and Derek with a serious expression, "You two better be prepared for a fight then. Let's go."

Simon jumped up, ready to go. Derek looked at me a bit worried. He didn't want to leave me behind. I smiled at him trying to say that I would be fine.

"Be safe," I hugged him. "I love you."

"Love you too," Derek hugged me back.

They left and once again we were alone in the motel room.

"I have to say I don't like them going to a nest this late in the day," I said.

Liz nodded, "Agreed, ours wasn't too bad because they were caught completely off guard. These vampires might be awake."

My hand or arm must have started to twitch from being nervous because Jeremy laid his hand on my shoulder.

"They'll be fine. Matt's with them plus out of all of us, those two are probably the most experienced in fighting."

"You're right," I nodded and smiled.

"Alright," Tori stood abruptly. "Girl talk time. You two boys scamper."

She dismissed Kyle and Jeremy from the room. The two decided to run to the nearby gas station while they were kicked out of the room. It had been years since Kyle had been able to eat junk food and candy.

"What was that about?" Liz asked.

"This one," she gestured to me.

"What did I do?" I asked surprised.

Tori sat back down, "Why haven't you made a move with Jeremy yet? He's obviously into you."

"I'm with Derek," I said.

Tori rolled her eyes, "But Jeremy is soo much better. And cuter. You need to go for him."

"If he's so much better, why don't you go for him?" Liz asked. "Why does Chloe have to do it? She's happy with Derek."

"Because this is Twilight," Tori said. "She's got two guys in love with her and she needs to choose one of them. My vote is for Jeremy, he's so much better."

I raised an eyebrow, Twilight really? This was not a movie this was real life. And Jeremy wasn't in love with me, he just had a moment of instinct problems. We just saw each other as a friend. Didn't we?

**Matt's POV**

Nothing against the two girls but I had a lot more confidence walking into this fight than the fight earlier today. These boys had a lot more fighting experience. I repeated my speeches with them about the dangers of what we were about to walk into and how to not be stupid. Really our only problem should be is protecting Derek if Derek changes but I don't see that happening. He's gotten better with his control.

I gave them the rundown of the building that I had been given. Gave Simon a knife and Derek a gun and knife.

Both of them had very serious expressions, they understood fully what they were about to be walking into and what could happen.

We stepped inside, moving slowly and quietly. Went room by room. I sent Derek upstairs first to start checking those rooms. When Simon and I had the first floor cleared, we joined him. Derek looked at us and shrugged.

"There's no one here," Derek shrugged.

I frowned, this wasn't good. They must have gotten tipped off that we were coming somehow. I wondered if there really were four vampires at the nest earlier today and one had gotten away.


	47. Simon and Derek's fight

**A/N: SO I've been thinking and I wanted to put an idea out there. What about introducing in a new character for Jeremy? He obviously wants to be with someone and personally I don't think Tori or Liz is a good long term fit for him. What do you guys think?**

**Matt's POV**

I smiled, "Alright you two. Welcome to the art of tracking with magic."

I started pulling on magic and the air around us started to get warmer.

"I don't get how you can use magic if you aren't technically a wizard," Simon said.

"I'm part demonic," I answered. "I can access the magic of the demon realm. That's why you feel heat when I use magic; the demon realm is full of fire magic."

I concentrated the magic into a blue mist and commanded it to follow the trail of the vampires.

The blue mist fell to the floor and we followed it back to the stairs. It flowed down and circled around the rooms of the first floor before going out the door. The boys stood in the doorway hesitantly.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I know its night but do we really want to follow a blue cloud out in public?" Derek said. "Humans will see it. And us."

"I understand your hesitation," I nodded. "But we need to take this risk right now. They can't get away."

I stepped through the doorway and the mist started inching across the yard, towards the road. I glanced back at the boys, they stepped out after me.

The mist lead us across the street to a small wooded area that sat in between the road and a backyard. It started to dissipate into the grass.

"Ready your weapons," I told them.

As I spoke, a ear piercing screech rang out from the trees.

"Let the games begin," I said and stepped forward.

A small girl dropped from the nearest tree. She couldn't have been more than eighteen before she was turned vampire. She charged at Simon and tackled him. Simon held her head back by her hair, preventing her from being able to bite him as they wrestled.

"Simon," Derek shouted.

I grabbed Derek by the collar of his shirt.

"You all need to learn to fight your own battles," I said.

I pushed Derek towards the trees and another vampire made their appearance. He matched Derek in size but not in quickness. Before the vampire cleared the distance between them, Derek had fired the gun.

The sound of the shot ringing out distracted the younger vampire enough to give Simon the upper hand and use his knife on her.

My time on the sideline was up, I suddenly tasted snow and dirt as I was knocked off my feet. I quickly got back up and drew my weapon. The man snickered.

"So I see the rumor is true. The sword fighter is back," he said.

"Is a sword that uncommon of a weapon?"

He smiled, "For a powerful demon? Of course it is."

I glanced over my shoulder at the boys. They were deep in the trees but I could hear them still fighting.

"Are we going to keep talking or actually fight?" I asked.

"I thought you'd never ask."

He lunged at me. I dove out of the way with ease. He flashed his fangs. I ran my index finger down the blade whispering a spell under my breath. The vampire watched me confused and tried to lunge again. I whipped my blade around and it connected with his shoulder.

The vampire cursed loudly as I drove it in deeper.

"Ready for the best part?" I taunted. I repeated the spell and magic flood from the blade into the vampire, turning him into ice. I pulled the sword out and rushed into the trees to find the boys.

A figure attempted to tackle me, as I spun to face them; I realized it was Derek.

"Sorry," Derek said immediately.

"Where's your brother?" I wasted no time.

Derek smelled the air for his scent and pointed to our left. I approached the treeline, standing on the top of a swing set bar was Simon and a vampire. Derek moved towards them and I again had to grab him.

"They're ten feet up in the air," I said. "What exactly do you plan on doing to help him?"

The vampire took a swing at Simon, their nails were sharp like razors. Simon ducked it, he must be using magic to keep his balance. I noticed the glint of a knife in the grass below, Simon had dropped it earlier.

"He doesn't have his weapon and he's already using his magic," I said. "We are going to have to help. Throw him your gun and help me surround the swing set so the vampire can't get away."

Derek didn't bother with responding to me. He charged out into the yard and threw it to Simon as he called out. Simon, caught by surprise, fumbled as he tried to catch it and the vampire took advantage of that moment, clawing Simon's arm. The vampire tasted the blood on his fingertips and jumped down from the beam. Simon quickly fired off multiple shots. One of them managed to hit the vampire and he dropped in his tracks.

"Is there any left?" Simon asked me.

"How many did you two get?" I asked

They both said two.

I nodded, "So five total, more if you include their annex nest the girls got. I would say that, that's all of them. It wasn't that big of a house that they nested in."

Simon got down from the swing set.

"How come there's no humans out here trying to see what we are doing?" Simon asked.

"The gunshot can only be heard by supernatural beings," I answered.

A frustrated Derek finally spoke up, "Can we discuss these things later? Simon's hurt."

I took his hand and looked at his arm. It was bleeding pretty good and would normally need stitches.

"Use your magic to heal it up," I told Simon.

To my surprise, he did with ease. I wondered where he'd learned this healing magic because he wasn't saying a spell that I knew.

Once he was done, we brought the bodies back to their nesting house and placed them in the back room. We got back into the car and before the two had a chance to ask me why we did that, they were asleep.


	48. protective instinct

**Chloe's POV**

I woke up when the boys got back from their vampire hunt. Matt must have just woken them up from the car ride because neither of the two cared about being quiet as they came in. They plopped down on the bed I was laying on, Derek to my right, Simon to my left. Simon smelled like blood but he wasn't acting hurt. He must have gotten some on him during the fight.

"How'd it go?" I asked them.

"In the morning," Derek mumbled already falling back asleep.

He wrapped an arm around me and held me close. I looked over at Simon; he was fast asleep already too. Matt was leaning against the television stand smirking at them.

"What on earth did you have them do?" I asked.

Matt chuckled, "They fought a nest of five and then had to lug the dead weight around. I didn't feel like doing it."

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

I dreamt of fighting vampires that night. Killing them and raising their dead bodies to kill the others. I was resourceful and increasing the numbers on our side. Matt was proud of me and told me he wanted me to come on more missions with him.

I woke in the morning to the smell of coffee. Liz was wrapped in a blanket, leaning against the wall where she could reach the outlet, sipping a cup and playing on her phone as it charged. I sat up.

"What game are you playing?" I asked her.

She showed me her screen.

"It's this puzzle game where you have to move the pieces around to get a specific piece out of the box."

Liz and I spent the morning teaching me the game until everyone else got up. Matt was the last one to wake up and he only woke up because of the noise level. He must have been up late after they got back, making plans or keeping watch or something. I really hoped that today was the day I got to go with him on a hunt.

Matt gripped his cup of coffee as he yawned and turned on the news. The anchor was talking about the grand opening of a pet adoption center in town.

"Matt," I interrupted. "When is it my turn?"

"Soon," he said.

"When is soon?" I asked impatiently. "You guys took down two nests in like a day but there's none today?"

"Chloe," Derek said. "He knows what he's doing."

"I'm not saying that he doesn't know what he's doing," I said. "I just want to have my turn."

I could hear Tori snicker at my admission of feeling left out but I refused to acknowledge her.

"You will," Matt said and sipped his coffee. "I'm reaching out to more contacts today. We'll have a new nest by tomorrow."

"So we're hitting the road again?" Derek asked.

Matt nodded, "Before dinner."

He spent most of the early afternoon on the phone saying cryptic messages. Finally around noon he pulled Derek away from our game of cards.

"Nobody look at my cards," Derek warned.

We all nodded but as soon as Derek stepped into the hall with Matt, Simon took a peek.

**Third Person POV**

Matt walked out to the car with Derek.

"Are we going somewhere?" Derek asked.

Matt nodded, "I needed to talk to you someplace more private."

They got into the car and Matt pulled out onto the road.

"Why? I don't have anything to hide from them," Derek said. "Especially from Chloe."

"I know, but I thought this conversation was best had alone. Derek, you're a werewolf. And werewolves have the basic instinct to protect their loved ones. Their pack."

Derek nodded; this wasn't new information obviously.

"You need to learn to suppress that instinct. You will put someone in dangers way."

"Excuse me?"

"I know it's not something easy to hear, believe me. But you will. It's only a matter of time. Unless you learn to control that instinct."

"What's so bad about me caring about my pack?"

"Because it can make werewolves irrational Derek. What're you going to do when I take Chloe out for her first hunt? Are you going to insist you come with to make sure she's safe? Are you going to fight all the vampires so none of them can hurt her? So she doesn't have to fight any? Which will put you in harms way because you can't fight all the nest on your own. And it doesn't allow her to learn to fight for herself. What if I insist you stay behind for her to be able to learn? You'll likely do one of two things. Freak out thinking of all the bad things that could happen and start changing and expose us to the humans at the motel. Or you'll find a way to come along with anyway and do everything I said before."

Derek was very insulted. Both hands clenched trying to control himself. "Who do you think you are Telling me how I'm going to behave."

Matt glanced over at him as he waited for the stoplight to turn green.

"Please," he said. "Tell me where I'm wrong then."

"I am not an irrational animal just because I care about protecting her," Derek growled.

"Tell me what assumptions I made of your actions was wrong," Matt repeated.

Derek didn't say anything right away, he just glared at Matt.

"Exactly," Matt said. "So you need to learn to control your protective instinct before I can take her out on a hunt."

**Chloe's POV**

Matt and Derek came back in with food from the nearby McDonalds. I could immediately tell that Derek was unhappy about something, every muscle in his shoulders were tensed and his expression was dark.

"What's wrong?" I asked Derek as everyone was distracted by the food.

"Nothing."

"Derek, I can tell that there is something. Talk to me."

I set my hand on his.

"I'm the reason you can't go out on a hunt," Derek growled. "Because I give a damn about something happening to you." 

"What?" I didn't understand where this came from.

"You can't go on the hunt until I learn to stop being so protective. Matt knows I'll go crazy if something happens to you."

Derek twitched angrily.

"Derek," I hugged him. "Calm down. Things happen to me all the time if you haven't noticed. I'll be fine no matter what. We always pull through."


	49. Travel and Prep

**There will be more necromancy action soon, I know just how I'm going to bring it in. As for Adriana, I guess I kind of accidentally abandoned that storyline. I just didn't know how to keep her involved with everything always going on. Oh and I honestly had not thought about making the new character for Jeremy a werewolf. I think that's a good idea. I wouldn't worry too much about Derek not getting comfortable with Chloe hunting, we all know he comes around to being logical eventually.**

**Chloe's POV**

Matt's contacts gave him a location a state over so it was going to be a three or four hour drive. As we sat in the car I couldn't help be mad at Matt a little. He was denying me what he promised I could do until Derek could be less protective. That was not fair to me. Asking a werewolf not to be protective was like asking a singer to cut their own vocal cords. We had tried to work on it with Derek so many times before, it was never going to stick.

"What's the size of this nest?" Kyle's question took my attention away from my thoughts.

"Not fairly big," Matt said. "Probably four or five again. But these guys might be a challenge for first timers. They've been stirring up lots of trouble."

"We can take them," Kyle cracked his knuckles.

"Stirring up trouble how?" Tori asked.

"Nightly killing sprees mostly. Everyone they can get their hands on. They town is afraid to go outside at night, they think rabid animals are on the loose. They've cancelled sporting events, put in curfews."

"Are you sure it is vampires?" Tori asked. "Sounds like it could be anything."

Matt nodded, "I trust my intel. They don't send me cases that aren't vampire."

"So who's going to be part of taking them on?" Simon asked.

Matt took a minute to answer.

"We'll try to stick to you three that haven't gone yet. But I may need everyone. We just have to wait and see just how bad it is."

Hmmm maybe Matt was going to let me go after all. Maybe he thought he would make Derek have to deal with it. But in the event that wasn't the case, I kept my mouth shut and looked out the window.

Me, Kyle, and Jeremy hunting together was an interesting thought. Kyle was just human right? So how was he going to be able to fight these vampires? And Jeremy hadn't really experienced much about being a werewolf yet so he didn't really know his ability. I bet we were about to be quite the show.

**Time Skip**

We pulled into a little Mom and Pop place for the night. It was very cute and decorated with lots of floral patterns. The woman insisted we took two rooms so everyone would have their own bed. When Matt hesitated because of pricing, she immediately offered a discount. The man, probably her husband, wasn't as thrilled with the idea of losing money but she didn't care. He only request was that we kept it traditional and had a girls room and boys room. Matt agreed.

I sat down on my little twin bed next to Liz's. Tori's was on the other side of Liz. I tossed my bag down to the foot of the bed and adjusted my pillow. It was very fluffy and I practically sank into it.

"Doesn't this place just remind you of a grandma's house?" Tori asked.

I chuckled, "Yeah, maybe a little."

Liz yawned, "How can I be so tired even though I didn't do anything today?"

Tori and I spouted off two very different possibilities at the same time.

"Car rides sap a lot out of people," I said.

"Cause you're not used to being alive yet," Tori said. "I've never heard of a ghost getting tired."

Liz laughed and rolled her eyes, "You are very insightful."

We chatted for a little while longer before going to sleep. For a few minutes, I felt like a normal high schooler at a sleep over.

It almost felt strange waking up to an alarm in the morning. I mean how often did we make it through nights without incidents? We got dressed and went over to the boys room. It was decorated with cat figurines and lace.

"Alright," Matt said as he stretched his arms. "The tentative plan is I'm taking Kyle and Jeremy today." He paused and looked at Derek. "Can I take Chloe without any problems?"

Derek nodded immediately. I'm sure his instinct hadn't been fixed overnight but he wasn't going to stand in the way of me going. Derek knew how important this was to me.

"Good," Matt nodded. "Same forty-eight hour rule. So far it doesn't look like we need everyone."

"What are we supposed to do while you are gone?" Liz asked.

Matt shrugged, "Go be kids. Go to the movies or mall or something."

Tori and Liz lit up at the idea of shopping. Even though they had no money.

"My only rules is no one going off on their own," Matt said.

Everyone nodded. Once the boys were dressed, it was time to go. Derek gave me a tight hug before we left.

"How long is the drive going to be?" Jeremy asked as we got into the car.

"Half an hour," Matt said as we pulled out onto the road. "Not very long."

"Thank you for letting me come," I said shyly.

Matt smiled warmly, "I promised didn't I?"

**Car Ride Time Skip**

We were in a parking lot about a mile from our destination. Matt opened the trunk, displaying the weapons.

"Kyle, I suggest you take a variety since you're the newest to this," Matt said. "You don't have powers to use if you lose a weapon."

Kyle took a few, tucking them into his belt loops on his jeans.

"Jeremy," Matt said then paused. "Choose two maybe. You haven't fully experienced your new abilities yet so I don't want you to be defenseless."

Jeremy picked up two knives and smiled, admiring them.

"Chloe, I want you to depend on your myriad of powers mostly. But take something you like for close rang combat."

I grabbed a long knife and tucked it into my sock and shoe.

"Alright," Matt shut the trunk.


	50. Chapter 50

**So sorry that its been so long since I have posted. School really picked up, who knew you could have exams the third week of classes!**

With Matt in the lead, we started walking towards the house. The lawn was patchy and full of weeds. The windows were boarded up. No human had cared for this place in a long time.

Matt tried to quietly turn the doorknob but it stuck. The door was locked. He pulled a small black leather tool from his pocket and picked the lock.

The door swung open and we stepped inside. I tried to take a deep breath to calm my nerves. We stepped into a hallway, the house smelled musty and stale.

The three of us followed closely behind Matt as we checked the first room. Empty except for dusty furniture.

The second room was the same. I tried to scan for any dead bodies but didn't find any. Which made sense. If they were killing all over town why would they need to bring a body back with them?

We approached the third room in the hallway. The door creaked slightly as we got closer and we all froze.

Jeremy opened his mouth and Matt shot him a look before he could speak. Matt tapped his ears, telling us to listen. We could faintly hear a breeze flowing through the room, the window was open. But other than that, dead silence.

Matt pushed the door open and stepped in. As soon as his back foot cleared the threshold, the door slammed shut. Throwing the three of us backwards. Commotion erupted in the room. The sound of fighting and smell of blood filled the air. Kyle struggled with the door handle.

"It's jammed!" Kyle shouted.

I tried to think of something.

"Jeremy, go back outside. Get in through the window." I said.

Jeremy nodded and ran out the front door. I grabbed Kyle.

"Come on we have to keep moving. Jeremy can handle it."

Kyle and I didn't have to go to the next room to find a vampire. She was standing right there as we turned around.

"Well what did we have here?" She smiled showing her fangs.

Kyle pulled a knife out and pointed it at her.

She smelled the air, "Poor little human, you've got to depend on weapons." She caught my scent and her expression changed. "You're not human though."

I grabbed Kyle's hand and pulled him behind me.

She smelled again, "I can't quite place what you are. You smell like a wolf but you also smell like a vampire."

She took a step close to me and placed a finger under my chin, letting the claw-like nail pierce the skin. I flinched.

The vampire tilted my head around before pulling her hand away and tasting the blood on her fingertip.

"You've definitely had some vampire in you."

Kyle let go of my hand. He had something planned. I ducked down and he lunged at the vampire. Sticking his knife into her chest. She dropped to the ground limp.

"Are you ok?" I asked Kyle as I raised the vampire.

Kyle, caught by surprise, struck her again with the knife.

"Kyle! It's fine. She's dead. I raised her."

"Oh," he sighed in relief. Seeing now how she now wasn't reacting to anything.

I commanded the zombie vampire to check the next room for us. She went into it and there was a voice. I came to the doorway with Kyle and told her to kill the vampire standing in the room. He was a pale bald man probably in his forties.

The zombie vampire advanced towards him.

"Marie stop," he said backing up. "What are you doing? Stop."

Kyle and I couldn't watch what came next. Luckily we were saved by a distraction. Matt and Jeremy came through their doorway.

"What did I tell you about splitting up?" Matt glared at me. Clearly unhappy with my call to send Jeremy in to help him.

"How many are left?" Jeremy interrupted before I could stammer out a response.

"We got two," Kyle said. "You?"

"Two," Matt said. "Sweep the rest of the rooms."

There were only two rooms left and no one was in them. We were done. Quicker than I thought we would be honestly. I released the vampire's soul and her body fell to the ground beside her shredded friend. It felt good using necromancy magic again but the sight before me made me a little queasy.

With my adrenaline finally coming down, I took a look at Jeremy. He had a bruise on his cheek but seemed unharmed otherwise. He must be getting better at being a werewolf.

Kyle peaked out the sliver of window that was uncovered and noticed a shed in the backyard.

"Matt we should probably check that out just in case," he suggested.

Matt peaked through the window to see what he was talking about.

"Good idea," he nodded. "Chloe and Jeremy go check it out."

Matt and Kyle did one last sweep of the house while Jeremy and I went around back.

"Do you hear anything?" I asked Jeremy.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

We were a few feet from the shed now.

"I'm trying to get you to use your new senses," I said. "Try to listen harder, use your werewolf hearing. Do you hear any movement inside?"

Jeremy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Maybe," he said. "I swear I can hear breathing but I might be imagining it."

"You'll learn, it takes practice."

The shed door had a heavy lock on it. Jeremy grabbed it and started twisting until the hinge broke.

"Good," I nodded. "You're getting good at using your strength."

The lock fell to the dirt with a thud and something shuffled inside. Jeremy looked at me, making sure I heard it too. He held his weapon with one hand and pushed the door in with his other. The shed wasn't too big, maybe ten by ten feet. Slits in the ceiling were the only source of light inside.

Jeremy and I stepped in, ready to fight again. But no one was in here. There was just dusty yard maintenance equipment.

"Maybe it was just an animal we heard," Jeremy said.

I tried to look around the equipment since they could provide hiding places and spotted a partially covered work bench in the back corner. I held up a finger to Jeremy and approached it slowly. Something moved underneath it when I bumped a weed wacker with my foot.

Whatever it was, it was trying to back away from us fearfully not get ready to attack. This wasn't likely a vampire. Jeremy tried to grab my shoulder as I knelt down in front of it. I couldn't believe what was before my eyes.

"Jeremy," I said softly. "It's a wolf."

"What?" Jeremy quickly knelt down beside me.

The quick movement spooked the wolf and it tried to look for a way to run out of the corner. I realized we still had the shed door open, we needed to be careful the wolf didn't take off on us.

"Slowly," I told Jeremy. "Don't spook it."

Jeremy slowly lifted a hand in it's direction. The wolf hesitantly inched forward to smell him. Their fur was beautiful, it was a mix of black and brown. But the wolf was covered in dirt and blood. Fresh blood still dripped from a wound above it's hazel eyes.

"Are you a werewolf?" Jeremy said gently. "We are here to help you not hurt you."

The wolf pushed their nose gently against his hand to answer.

"What is taking so long out here?" Suddenly came from the doorway.

The wolf panicked and tried to flee. It turned and fell back into the shadow. I finally noticed why the wolf wasn't actually running; their back right leg was all twisted and broken.

"Matt, we found a werewolf." Jeremy stood up.

Matt and Kyle looked at him like they had heard him wrong.

"You what?" Matt asked.

They rounded a push mower so they could see under the table we were beside.

"Oh my god," Matt's jaw dropped. "These vampires were keeping werewolf prisoners."

"We have to help," I said. "I think their leg is broken pretty bad."

"Chloe," Matt hesitated. "We don't know who-"

"Please," Jeremy begged. "Does it matter who that is? We can't leave them here defenseless."

"Fine," Matt nodded. "Kyle would you please go grab a sheet from the house. We can't go walking out in the open with a wolf."

Kyle nodded and quickly left the shed.


	51. Chapter 51

Kyle brought back a gray bedsheet and handed it to Matt.

"Come here," Matt said to the wolf.

The terrified wolf wasn't moving.

Jeremy reached out his hand again, "I promise we won't hurt you. We'll get you fixed up."

The werewolf smelled his hand again.

"Please," Matt set the sheet down.

The wolf stared at the sheet for a minute before coming forward as best as they could. It laid down on the sheet shaking from nerves.

"Hey hey, shhhh," Matt said quietly. Gently rubbing behind their ear. "You've got to stay calm so you don't change."

"Why shouldn't they change back to human?" Jeremy asked as he tucked the sheet around them.

"Changing with a broken bone is extremely painful and can lead to serious problems," Matt said.

The three of us stood and backed up to give Matt space. He lifted the werewolf who started whimpering.

"I know it hurts," Matt said. "It'll be over with in a second."

Matt quickly cut through the yard to the car. We all followed behind. Matt set the werewolf down in the backseat and got in the driver's seat. Kyle and I sat in the front; Jeremy slid in the back beside the werewolf. He pulled the sheet from their face.

Matt started driving. I was curious if were just going to head straight back with this stranger but I wasn't going to question. Matt knew what he was doing. Kyle and I watched Jeremy and the werewolf.

"Are you a guy or girl?" Kyle asked the werewolf.

"Kyle," Jeremy frowned.

"What? It's a valid question."

The werewolf looked at me. It was a female werewolf. Jeremy took the edge of the sheet and dotted the blood before it got into her eye.

"Man, they really hurt you," he sighed.

Her eyes dropped. Shame? Embarrassment? Whatever the reason was, she wasn't going to make eye contact.

Matt joined in the conversation, "Why don't you kids try to get some rest? We'll have our hands full when we get back."

None of us could fall asleep though, the fact that we found a beat up werewolf prisoner was a lot to process. It sucked that we couldn't ask her questions. I wanted to know who she was and what she did to get in a position like that.

By the time we got back to the motel, the werewolf had drifted off to sleep. She probably hadn't got real sleep in a long time.

"Ok," Matt said putting the car in park. "We can't bring her inside. Chloe and I will run inside and update everyone on what's going on. Then Jeremy and I will take her to another location to fix her up."

"Why me?" Jeremy asked.

"She seems to trust you the most out of all of us so far and we'll need something that can calm her."

Matt and I went in through the back entrance, he was still covered in vampire blood. We knocked on the door and stepped into the room. I was immediately swept off my feet by Derek in a huge hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said into my hair.

"Bro, put her down before you squeeze her to death," Simon said.

"Where's Kyle and Jeremy?" Derek asked Matt, loosening his grip on me but he still held his arms around me.

"In the car waiting," Matt said. "We ran into a… hiccup of sorts. The vampires were holding a werewolf captive. She's in very bad shape. Jeremy and I are going to go fix her up."

Everyone's jaws were dropped.

"Why-?" Liz began.

"I don't really have any answers right now," Matt said. "She is still in wolf form so she can't really communicate with us."

"Where are you taking her to fix her up?" I asked. It wasn't like there was a supernatural hospital down the street.

Matt shrugged, "To be honest, somewhere secluded on the outskirts of town where we won't run into humans."

"Might she feel kidnapped again?" Simon asked.

Matt nodded, "That's very possible so we have to be careful not to overwhelm her and scare her off. She needs medical attention."

Matt excused himself and got cleaned up in the bathroom quickly then left. Kyle came into the room a minute later. Simon stole all of Kyle's attention immediately, asking about how it went. Derek and I listened to them for a few minutes before falling into our own world of conversation.

"How did it go here?" I asked Derek.

He shrugged, "Fine. A little stir crazy. I hope we can all go as a group soon. This sitting and waiting feels like a waste of time."

I nodded, "I'm sure we will soon. Matt's seen that we are all capable of fighting now."

Derek kissed the top of my head, "You, Chloe, are capable of anything and everything. I hope you know that."

**Jeremy's POV**

Matt came back out to the car with fresh clothes on and sent Kyle back inside. The car shifting into drive woke the wolf up and she jumped to her feet. I quickly grabbed her before she fell down.

"Hey whoa whoa it's okay. It's just the car."

She growled lightly but made no sudden movements.

Matt drove us to the industrial district of town and out to the warehouses. He put the car in park and turned around.

"This is probably our best bet for not running into humans. No one's going to be out here this time of day."

But just to be safe, we were to stay in the shadow of the car. Matt opened the door and helped the werewolf get out of the sheet.

"She's shaking," I said kneeling beside her. "Matt she's terrified."

"Wouldn't you be after what she's probably been through?" Matt said.

He helped her lay down on her side so he could examine her broken leg. Matt was very quiet as he did so. I just gently scratched behind her ear trying to keep her calm.

Finally I couldn't take the silence, "What is it that you aren't saying?"

"See the way these broken bones are pressed against her skin?"

I nodded.

"Its because they don't fit her leg," Matt said.

"What does that mean?" I asked. She started to whimper and shake more as she listened to us.

"It means these are human bones in her wolf leg, she needs to shift back before we can set them to heal."

My heart dropped, this girl had been through so much already and she was going to have to shift again with broken bones and wounds before she could get better? She would probably suffer PTSD for the rest of her life.

"I'm sorry," Matt said to her. "Are you ready?"


	52. Clean up

**It was leading to that, yes. I (probably because I know whats to come) saw it as he was the first to show her kindness in a long long time. Once she gets talking though, we'll find out more about that! I don't want to spoil any more! If that counts as a spoiler lol.**

**Chloe's POV**

There wasn't much to do until Matt and Jeremy got back. We just sat around talking and watching TV. I don't know what I expected for when they returned but it certainly wasn't what did happen.

The door opened in and Matt stepped in. He raised a finger to his lips telling us all to quiet down. Were we being too loud or did he bring the werewolf back?

Jeremy stepped in through the doorway supporting a girl who was covering most of her body with a dirty sheet. She was filthy, covered in dirt and old dried blood. Part of the sheet had been ripped off to hold piece of wood against her right leg as a makeshift cast.

Jeremy stepped past Matt and lead her into the bathroom. There was a woosh of water as the shower was turned on.

"Chloe, Liz, would you mind helping her get cleaned up since you're girls? I'm going to go get my hands on a real cast." Matt said.

"Of course," I stood up. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of Derek's signature looks. He understood why Matt would ask girls to help her get cleaned up but that didn't mean he liked me around the stranger away from him.

"Yeah," Liz stood.

"Wait," Tori spoke up before Matt stepped back out. "Why can't Simon or I just heal her?"

"She's terrified and hasn't spoke a word yet," Matt said. "I don't think she really trusts us yet so I don't want to push the boundaries."

Tori huffed annoyed and Matt left without another word.

Liz and I walked to the bathroom door as Jeremy stepped out. He smiled at me as he passed by.

We stepped in and shut the door. She was sitting on the toilet holding onto the sheet tightly. Liz pulled back the shower curtain and felt the water.

"Do you like it hot?" Liz asked her. "It's getting pretty warm."

The girl didn't respond, she just watched us. I walked up to her and smiled.

"Remember me? My name is Chloe." I asked.

She nodded.

"We're gonna help you get cleaned up, ok?" I said. "First you need to let go of the sheet."

The girl did and Liz handed her a towel to cover herself with intead. I stepped closer.

"I'm gonna help you get in the water," I said.

I slid my arm under her shoulders and tried my best to help her get into the shower without her broken leg getting bumped. It wasn't the easiest task with the girl being a bit taller than me. She sat down on the shower floor, I sat behind her. Not caring that I was getting my clothes wet. Liz sat at the edge of the shower.

"Can we wash your hair first?" Liz asked her.

The girl, hugging her good leg to her chest, nodded. I wondered in the back of my head if she was just agreeing because she felt like she didn't have any other options.

I shampooed and conditioned her hair as gently as I could.

Liz pulled out a bar of soap, "Ok, Chloe's going to help you stand. You'll use this to get all the dirty stuff off you."

Once we got her to her feet, I supported her under her armpits and Liz held the towel up to shield our faces and give her privacy.

When she was done and clean she tried to pull the towel from Liz's hands.

"Hold on," Liz said and hung the soaked towel up. She turned the water off and grabbed a dry towel for the girl. "Here, this ones dry."

The girl wrapped herself in the new towel and we helped her sit back down on the toilet. Liz left to grab new clothes. She came back in with dry clothes for me and a t-shirt and undergarments from Tori and sweatpants from Simon since they were nearly the same height.

I stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain and changed while Liz helped her get dressed.

"Do you want to stay in here?" I asked her when I stepped back out. "You don't have to be around everyone if you don't want to."

The girl looked at me confused, confirming my earlier suspicion, she wasn't used to being allowed to choose.

"Here," I grabbed an unused toothbrush and got it ready for her. "Brush your teeth then we can go out to the room."

She brushed her teeth as best as she could, it must have been a long time. Then we lead her out to the room and sat her on the bed. Everyone watched us quietly. Jeremy came over and sat beside her and handed her some pain relievers.

"Remember Matt said you need to keep taking these," he said. "They make the pain go away."

She swallowed the pills and looked around the room nervously.

"Hey," Simon walked up to her with the TV remote. "The TV is all yours."

She started pressing buttons confused. Simon smiled and started teaching her how to use it until Matt came back with the new cast and crutches.


	53. Dinner Date

I had to step out when Matt re-set her leg in the new cast. It was brutal watching her growl and try not to scream.

Derek followed me out into the hall.

"Hey, you ok?"

I nodded, "I just can't watch that. This poor girl… Derek she didn't know how to do anything. How long has she been imprisoned? I mean who forgets how to brush their teeth?"

"Maybe she never learned how to, to begin with," Derek shrugged then tried to change the topic. "You haven't eaten in a while; we should get you something to eat."

I wasn't really hungry but I nodded. I probably should. Derek took my hand and we started walking towards the door.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To get you something to eat," he said. "There's a diner down the road I think you would like."

Derek brought me to this cute little diner old timey themed diner. Like something out of an old movie. The waitress greeted us at the door dressed in a red and white uniform.

"Where would you two like to sit?" She asked smiling.

Derek told her we would like a booth, she directed us to one against the far wall.

"You two came just in time," she said. "You're beating the dinner rush so your food won't take long at all. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"Water please," I said.

"Same," Derek nodded.

"I'll be right back," she set down some menus and walked to the counter.

"Chloe," Derek said as I reached for a menu. "What do you see when you think of the future?"

This question caught me off guard.

"I don't know, why?" I asked.

"Do you think you'll want to hunt forever? Or do you want to settle down, get a normal job?"

I shrugged and scanned the menu as I thought.

"I don't know. I mean doing this stuff is fun but it can't last forever. Some day we'll have to get a normal human job. But I don't mind that, I didn't know any of this existed until the Lyle House. I've spent most of my life picturing a normal future."

The waitress came up with our waters.

"Have we had a chance to look over the menu?" She asked.

"I'll just have a burger," Derek said. "And fries."

"Same," I said.

She took our menus and walked away after scribbling our order down.

"Why are you asking?" I asked Derek.

"Because," Derek sighed. "I don't ever want us on different pages about the future. If we have different goals for the future then we have problems down the road."

"What's your goal for the future?"

Derek smiled, "To spend it with you."

I blushed but rolled my eyes, "You know what I meant."

"Well you know with the position I'm in, I can't really leave this world completely behind. But I'd like to live as normal a life as possible someday. Doing this hunting and stuff is fun for now, but like you said it's not for forever."

"So we are on the same page then," I said.

Derek nodded, "Yeah. I'm glad."

"What will you do if you and Simon aren't?" I asked. "I know you won't let him continue this life alone."

Derek took a long drink of his water before answering.

"I don't know… I obviously won't tell him what to do so I guess I just wait and hope things work out for the better."

I thought back to finding Simon in the middle of the night struggling with his magic. He wasn't going to lead a normal life any easier than a werewolf.

"Excuse me what?" Derek frowned.

I glanced around; I hadn't said anything. Who was that towards?

"Chloe, I saw it."

Damn the telepathy!

"He is struggling to contain it and you were just not going to say anything? And you hurt yourself on purpose?! Was that what he meant when he said you helped him even though he didn't want you to?!"

"Keep your voice down," I said quickly. "You're the one who didn't push him for more detail, ok? Don't go after me. I did it to help him."

Derek shook his head, "Great yeah, help him keep secrets."

"It's his secret," I said. "Its not mine to go around telling. If he wants you to know, he will tell you."

"Like how you kept Jeremy's secret," Derek said. "How many others are you keeping for other people?"

The waitress came back with our food.

"Enjoy!" She smiled.

"Thank you," I smiled back.

She nodded and hurried off to greet new customers coming in.

"Derek," I sighed. "Can we please not argue?" I reached for his hand. "Things have been going so well."

"I'm sorry," he took my hand. "I just can't stand my family being in pain and it makes it worse finding out that they've been hiding it from me."

"He just doesn't want you to worry," I said. "He knows you have enough on your plate already."

Derek squeezed my hand before letting go so we could start eating.

"I love you, I'm sorry for over reacting."

"I love you too," I smiled.


	54. She's talking

**Don't apologize, I love the questions. I would say that they've got to be sixteen or seventeenish by now? Its got to be over a year or more since the story began. Doing a birthday is a great idea! Definitely need to do that! I guess you could say that about Liz and Kyle, in a way that day is their re-birthday lol.**

That night had been relatively quiet. Matt stayed up all night keeping an eye on the werewolf girl while the rest of us slept. I don't know if she ever fell asleep. When I woke in the morning, Simon was already up and Matt had fallen asleep accidentally. Simon was sitting beside the girl in front of the TV.

"I know you don't want to talk," Simon said. "But could you at least give us your name?"

She kept watching the TV, Simon frowned. Thinking she wasn't going to answer.

"Emma," she whispered.

Simon smiled.

"Thank you Emma."

Simon turned back to the TV too. He didn't want to push her with more questions. I got up and showered, by the time I was out, almost everyone was up. Tori tossed me a granola bar.

"Looks like Matt will be sleeping away the day," she said. "What do we want to do today?"

I shrugged as I ate.

"Why don't we just explore the town until we find something to do?"

It was as good a plan as any. We didn't really know what there was to do around here. Jeremy decided he wanted to stay behind with Emma. He said he didn't want Matt to wake up all alone with her. The rest of us ate, got dressed, and we were off.

Walking around felt nice, none of us really cared about the layer of snow on the ground. We wandered for maybe an hour before coming upon a strip mall. Tori and Liz insisted we went inside.

I'm not a huge shopper so I wandered around with the boys instead. Simon was showing Kyle all the stuff he missed over the years. Xbox and PlayStation and the multitude of games. Kyle was fascinated that people could sit in front of TVs for hours just pushing buttons. It dawned on me, had I ever really asked Kyle how he died or even just what time he was from?

"Hey Kyle," I said. "Can I ask you something personal?"

"Of course," Kyle nodded as he read the backs of DVDs.

"What time are you from?"

Kyle looked up at me.

"I died in 1996," he said.

That was around the time most of us were born…

"We don't have to talk about that if you don't want to," I said.

Kyle smiled, "Its not that big of a deal. It happened so long ago now. To be honest I'm surprised it took this long for someone to ask. Do you want to know how?" Kyle glanced around to make sure humans were out of earshot. "Before that place was a motel, it was an orchard. Beautiful farm. I went with my family one day to pick apples and we found most of the trees picked clean along the bottoms. The apples were out of reach. So I climbed the trees, filled our buckets and passed them down. I'm sure you can figure out what happened next."

"You fell…" Simon said.

Kyle nodded, "Onto a discarded pitchfork."

I gasped. "I'm so sorry."

Kyle shrugged it off, "Its in the past now. I'm alive again."

Derek shook his head bewildered, "I've never seen someone so okay with their death."

"I've never seen someone so ok with speaking their mind," Kyle teased.

Simon and I laughed.

We browsed the DVD section for a bit longer and picked out a handful of cheap movies we wanted Kyle to see. Then met up with Liz and Tori to get food. We decided on splitting a pizza because it was the cheapest option.

It was getting late in the afternoon now so we thought we should head back. It was snowing lightly so we walked fast.

We got back, knocked the snow off our shoes and headed back to the room. Matt was still asleep when we walked in. Jeremy and Emma sat on the floor beside the bed.

"Hey," Jeremy smiled at us.

"Hey," we said back.

I could hear Emma's stomach growling from where I was standing. I came over and knelt in front of her. While everyone else got settled in.

"Do you want to eat?" I asked her.

She had a worried look in her eyes, I took her by the hand.

"Come on, I promise nothing bad will happen."

I helped Emma over to where we had the food and got her a chocolate chip granola bar.

"Here, it's really good."

Emma took it and ate it quickly.

"How old are you Emma?" I asked.

She swallowed and looked at me, "Nineteen."

"Wow," I smiled then added. "Thank you for telling me."

She smiled back at me. I could hear her stomach still growling.

"Do you want another?" I asked.

Her smile disappeared, replaced by a look of fear. She shook her head panicking. Jeremy quickly came over and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Shhh," he said. "Its okay. Calm down you don't want to change."

She drew her good leg to her chest.

**Time Skip to later that night**

It was dark in the room. The only light came through the window from a streetlight outside. Jeremy and Emma were the only other ones up. I don't think they noticed I was still awake too.

"Emma, why won't you eat? I can hear you're starving. You know we are the good guys. We didn't do anything to the food."

"They did things…"

Emma was talking!

"The vampires? What did they do to your food?"

Emma shook her head, "To me not to food."

Jeremy pushed something away from his has he spoke.

"What happened?" He said. "Ow. Paper cut."

Emma started hyperventilating.

"Its just a paper cut," Jeremy tried to reassure her.

"Go," she backed away from him. "Get away."

I sat up, ready to intervene.

"Emma," Jeremy sighed.

I smelled the drop of blood on his finger and saw the look of panic in her eyes as her stomach growled.

"Jeremy you should go," I quickly got out of the bed.

"Why?"

"Just go," I snapped quietly.

I grabbed Emma's arms and Jeremy quickly went out into the hallway.

Her hyperventilating slowed. She laid her head against my chest.

"Don't let me hurt him," she said.

I let go of her arms and hugged her gently.

"I won't."

She was still shaking.

"How'd you figure it out?" She asked.

"I've seen that look before," I said vaguely. "Is this why you haven't been talking?"

My shirt felt damp as she sniffed. She was crying.

"What would they say if they saw the fangs?"

"That we're different too and we will help you."

One of her hands went to her stomach, "I'm so hungry."

"We'll figure it out," I promised.

Jeremy opened the door slowly.

"Can I come back yet?"

I could feel Emma tense.

"Have you stopped bleeding?" I asked.

Jeremy looked at his finger, "Yes."

"Wash your hands first," I said.

Jeremy washed them then came over.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"Jeremy," I spoke for Emma who was still buried in my shirt. "She's got some vampire in her."

I watched it click into place in Jeremy's head. His jaw dropped.

"You need blood Emma? Why didn't you just say so?"

Jeremy grabbed a small knife from his sock.

"What're you doing?!" I scolded him while trying not to yell too loud.

"She needs blood, she'll get it."

Before I could snatch the knife from Jeremy, the blade cut into his bicep. Blood immediately started flowing down his arm. Emma grabbed me tightly trying to control herself. She shook harder and harder.

"It's okay Emma. You're not hurting me if I'm willing," Jeremy said setting the knife down.

Blood was getting all over Jeremy, Emma couldn't control it anymore and jumped at him. Fangs sinking into the cut.


	55. Loving someone

**I have been thinking about that with Kyle, it would be an interesting little side story if they were to run into his family!**

I honestly didn't know what to do here. Jeremy was willing to help her out and I couldn't pull her off him no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to wake the others for help but how would I explain this? They'd never trust her if they saw her doing this to Jeremy.

Finally her grip got loosened enough for me to be able to pull her off.

"That's enough," I snapped at her. "You're going to hurt him."

She stared at Jeremy, horror in her eyes, blood dripping down her chin.

"Oh god," she started sobbing.

"I'm fine," Jeremy pressed his hand against the wound to try to slow the bleeding.

"I have to go," Emma tried to get to her feet.

"Emma wait," Jeremy grabbed her hand before she got up and put weight on her broken leg. "It's alright. I offered so you have nothing to feel guilty about."

She pulled her hand from him.

"Do you feel better?" Jeremy asked.

Emma nodded, she wasn't starving anymore. Which was a good thing?

"Then come here and relax," Jeremy took her hand again and pulled her next to him.

She collapsed in his lap crying.

"I'll get help," I said and went over to the beds to wake Tori.

"What?" She mumbled sleepily.

"I need your help healing," I said. "And you have to keep your mouth shut about it. Understand?"

Tori nodded, "Sure. Fine."

Tori got up and I guided her over to Jeremy and Emma. She was no longer half asleep when she saw the scene. Tori's eyes got huge.

"What the heck happened here?!"

"No questions," I shushed her. "Just heal Jeremy's arm and be quiet."

Tori put her hand on his shoulder and healed the wound. Then used magic to clean up the blood.

"Anything else?" She asked.

I shook my head. Tori watched the sobbing Emma.

"You owe me an explanation eventually," she said and then she went back to bed.

"Its all fixed," Jeremy whispered to Emma. "No harm done."

She didn't respond.

"What did those vampires do to you?" He asked.

"I wasn't their first subject," she said. Her voice was muffled by her arms. "There were others. But I was their favorite, they never let me go."

"How long did they have you?" I asked.

"They took me from my pack when I was six."

She'd been held prisoner for over a decade by this group of vampires… its no wonder she took time to come out of her shell.

"Emma I'm so sorry."

"Jeremy why don't you go get some rest," I said. "I'll stay up with Emma."

Jeremy was hesitant to leave her alone but he knew he needed the rest. He got up and went to bed.

"Please don't go back to not talking," I said. "It'll help you heal and trust us. Maybe when you're better we can take you home to your pack?"

"Really?" Emma was surprised.

I nodded, "Of course. I'm not lying."

"I'd like that a lot," she said.

"More than you like Jeremy?" I gently teased.

"What?"

I smiled, "Oh come on. He's the only one of us you trust and you were just worried for his safety. You almost left for it. You only don't want to hurt people that you care about."

Emma chuckled nervously, "I don't know what it is. Just that ever since I met him, I knew I could trust him. I just had this gut feeling that he'd never hurt me. Jeremy… is the first person since I was six years old to show me kindness."

I couldn't believe she was opening up so much.

"That, my friend, is what us werewolves call loving someone." I said.

"Loving someone?"

I nodded, "Loving someone is exactly what you just described. Feeling the undeniable fact that you care about someone and can trust them and that you'll do everything you can every day to make sure they never hurt."

"Then Jeremy's loving someone too," Emma said. "All he's done for me is make sure I never hurt."

Ignoring the grammatical problem, I nodded.

"I think you're right."

"What do I do?" Emma asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Loving someone doesn't mean you have to do anything. It just means don't leave when things get hard. He took the risk and let you use his blood. Don't run away because he could get hurt."

"I can't do it again…"

"We will figure something out, I promise."

Emma eventually fell asleep against my shoulder. Out of all of us, I was probably closest to knowing what she was going through. I felt so bad that we didn't know. She'd been slowly starving since we took her in.


	56. Rough night continues

I thought the rest of the night was going to be calm and I was wrong. Simon was tossing and turning a lot for maybe an hour before he finally got up and out of bed.

"Oh, you're up," Simon saw me sitting on the floor beside Emma.

"It's happening again isn't it?" I replied.

"I'm fine," Simon shifted his shoulders. They were very tense.

I raised an eyebrow not convinced.

"How are you going to fix it?" I asked.

"Chloe don't do something stupid again," Simon glared.

Derek rolled over, Simon's loud talking had woken him.

"Why on earth are you two up?" He grunted.

"Its nothing," Simon said turning back towards the bed.

"It's Simon's magic again," I said quickly.

"Chloe," Simon hissed.

Derek sat up, "What?"

"I'm fine," Simon said.

"No, having magic control problems is not fine," Derek said. "How do we fix this?"

"Doing a spell that requires a lot of effort," I said.

"Stop it," Simon said. "You two don't have a say. I say its fine so its fine. Leave it alone."

He sat down on the edge of the bed.

"We're just trying to help," I said.

"I didn't ask for help," Simon snapped.

"Hey," Derek growled. "Don't you dare take it out on Chloe."

"I didn't do anything to her," Simon snapped at him

I shifted Emma off me and stood up. Simon watched me out of the corner of his eye. I took a step towards the bathroom.

"Don't," Simon stood.

Derek stood too, unsure of what I was doing. It wasn't normal to see Simon so short tempered. He was really not feeling like himself.

I took another step towards the bathroom.

"Chloe," Simon's arms were shaking from the tension. "Don't you dare touch those razors."

I stepped towards the bathroom again. Simon stepped towards me making Derek step towards him. I wasn't going to do it but he needed to be pushed, either to do a spell or to talk to Derek.

"Simon-" Derek began but I took a quick step.

Simon shouted something and a blast of magic sent me flying against the wall. There was a loud crack as my head connected with the drywall and broke it. My ears were ringing I couldn't really hear what Simon and Derek were saying. The light went on and I could see everyone else waking and jumping to their feet though as my vision went fuzzy.

Someone's arm went to my neck, feeling my pulse. I could distantly hear "…I'm so sorry…. Didn't mean to…" followed by another voice "…don't touch her…" Something cold was laid on my forehead, ice maybe? I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. It didn't hurt much to breathe which was important. I heard "…open…" someone didn't like me closing my eyes. But it was hard to keep them open. I just needed some rest. I just needed a minute and I would be up and fine like nothing had happened.

**Matt's POV**

A loud crash woke me from a dead sleep. I opened my eyes to find Derek and Simon standing over Chloe and a crack in the wall behind her. I immediately jumped to my feet and hurried over. Everyone else was doing the same.

"Get her some ice," I commanded Simon. "She's probably got a concussion." I snapped my fingers in front of Chloe's eyes. "Chloe? Can you hear me?"

Simon handed me a baggy of ice, I held it against her forehead. Her eyes stopped following my fingers and started to close.

"Chloe no. Keep your eyes open sweetheart. Keep looking at me. Stay with me."

Her eyes weren't opening, her concussion was bad.

"Come on," I tried not to show the panic in my voice but it was slipping out. "Wake up Lydia. Come on."

She didn't though. I shot to my feet facing the boys.

"What the hell did you two do?!" I screamed.

"It was an accident," Simon tried to go around me.

I grabbed him by his shirt.

"You will not lay a hand on her or so help me god," Then I turned to Tori and Liz, "Will you two CAREFULLY see if she has any broken bones? Be extremely careful with her neck."

Then I turned back to Derek and Simon. Derek tried to go past me this time. I held up a hand and he stopped.

"Someone better start telling me what happened or you two won't see her again. I don't need Chloe to be in danger every time I look away."

"It was an accident," Simon said again. "She was pushing me to use my magic and it just burst out."

I shook my head, "I don't have time for lies. Just get out."

"What?" Derek asked.

"I said get out. I don't want to see either of your faces right now. Come back in an hour."

"No, I-" Simon started.

I flicked my wrist and forced them out the door with my magic. Locking it behind them. I turned back to Chloe. Tori's hand was above her, scanning her.

"She's banged up pretty good," Tori said. "But no broken bones I can find."

"Good," I nodded.

I bent down and carefully picked her up and set her on the bed.

"Don't you think you were a little hard on them?" Kyle asked. "They said it was an accident."

"I don't give a damn if its an accident or not," I replied. "I will not have this. People will not be hurting each other."

I swore I heard someone whisper 'loving someone' but no one looked like they spoke.


	57. Forgive

**I know this chapter is a little bit shorter but it seemed like a sweet little moment to end it on. I wouldn't be worried about Matt holding a grudge against the boys. Now that he knows Chloe's okay, he'll just be more focused on fixing Simon's issue so no one gets hurt again. I don't think he could ever banish the boys, he knows that would break Chloe's heart and he won't upset her.**

I yawned and stretched, my back was really sore.

"Hey there she is," a voice said softly.

I opened my eyes to find Matt watching over me.

"How does your head feel?" He asked.

"I'm okay," I sat up.

An icy cold washcloth fell off my forehead. The room was silent as I looked around. Tori and Liz were sitting on the other side of the bed watching me. Kyle was looking down at his phone trying to stay out of the way. Jeremy was sitting beside Emma who was staring off into space.

"Where's Derek and Simon?" I asked.

Matt handed me back the washcloth.

"I made them leave for a bit." Matt said. "I was furious with what they did."

I can't say I blame Matt for being mad at them but making them leave? Oh well, I wasn't going to argue with it right now. I didn't want any fighting right now.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long," Jeremy said. "Maybe twenty minutes."

Not long? How was that not long?! I tried getting up from the bed.

"I need to go talk to them," I said.

Matt gently put a hand on my shoulder, enough pressure to keep me where I was but not so hard that it hurt any injuries.

"Whoa, we need to make sure you're okay."

"Matt," Liz interrupted. "Who's Lydia?"

"Excuse me?" Matt was thrown off by this question.

"When Chloe got hurt you called her Lydia," Liz said.

"Don't worry about it," Matt said.

"But-"

"I wouldn't push it," I warned Liz. This was obviously a sensitive topic for Matt.

**Meanwhile outside**

Derek couldn't help himself, he shoved Simon against the wall and got in his face.

"What the hell was that?!" Derek screamed. "You could've killed her!"

"It was an accident! Are you the only one who's allowed to lose it?"

"You better get yourself under control then or we are going to have bigger issues. You could have killed her Simon!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Simon got quiet. "I tried to tell her to leave it alone."

"So its her fault?" Derek glared.

"No that's not what I meant," Simon shook his head quickly.

"We need to figure out what's wrong with you and fast," Derek said, his initial burst of anger fading. "Before you hurt anyone else."

Simon sighed, "I know."

**Back to inside**

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Matt asked.

I nodded, "I'll be fine."

"What on earth happened?" Kyle joined in the conversation.

"It was an accident," I said. "Simon's magic burst out."

"Magic doesn't just burst out Chloe," Matt said.

I shrugged and felt something pinch in my shoulder. "Well he doesn't really have traditional magic does he?"

"Something wrong?" Matt noticed me flinch.

"I'm fine," I said.

"Turn around," Matt commanded.

I obeyed and turned around. Matt pulled down the collar of my shirt.

"You've got a splinter from hitting the wall," he said. "One… two… three…"

He yanked it out. It hurt for a second then felt much better. I turned back to the way I was sitting before.

"Can they come back?" I asked. "It really was an accident."

Matt sighed and nodded, "Sure but this magic problem needs to be fixed. I will not have people getting hurt by their family."

Emma spoke under her breath, "Loving someone."

Matt looked around, "I swear that's the second time I've heard that. Who keeps saying that?"

"That's Emma," I said. "We talked about it last night."

Matt raised an eyebrow but didn't question it further.

"Would someone let the boys in?" Matt asked.

Liz got up and went looking for them. She came back a few minutes later with them.

Derek rushed over to me and pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so relieved you're okay," he said.

Simon hung back near the bathroom door.

"I'm sorry…" he said.

I nodded, "It's ok Simon. It was an accident."

"It's not ok," Matt said under his breath.

Ignoring Matt, I asked Simon, "Are you feeling better?"

Simon chuckled, "Sure if feeling better means feeling as guilty as possible."

"You should feel guilty," Derek said.

"Would you two stop it with the commenting?" I said. "I forgive him, you should too."

"He could've killed you Chloe," Derek said.

"But he didn't," I said. "Stop holding what ifs against Simon."

Simon just stared at me, I think he couldn't believe I was standing up for him after what just happened.

I got up from the bed, wow I felt sore, and walked over to Simon. He watched me, unsure what I was going to do. I came up to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. Simon didn't react at first but eventually hugged me back.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"All is forgiven," I said. "I was never mad at you Simon. You're family."


	58. Traveling

**I do plan on having them go on a big group vampire hunt soon! And that's a good idea I should bring in their old interests!**

Matt wanted us to hit the road again and start heading to our next destination, but with Emma we had more people than we had seats.

"We can make it work," Jeremy argued. "We aren't leaving her behind."

Emma watched the discussion quietly. Confrontation really made her go back inside her shell.

"Jeremy the point was to get her out of that mess," Matt said. "Which we did so she is free to go."

"What if she doesn't want to go though?" I asked.

"Well," Matt thought. "If she doesn't want to then I can't force her out. But Emma, if you're staying then you need to let us heal that leg with magic. Injured people are no good in fights."

Emma nodded obediently. She probably didn't want to go fighting vampires with us, she probably just wanted to stay around semi-familiar faces.

Tori and Simon healed her leg together, it was broken in several places. In the process, the magic healed up all her cuts and bruises. Emma's cut by her eye faded away into a thin almost unnoticeable scar.

**Quick switch to Jeremy's POV to give you guys a more detailed description of what Emma looks like.**

Something felt warm in my heart when I looked at Emma all healed up. Her hazel eyes stood out brilliantly against her blackish brown curly hair. They locked away her pain behind hazel stained glass.

She was thin from lack of food and being able to move over however long she had been prisoner. But she could gain that muscle back in no time now that she was free.

Emma's fingernails were cut as short as possible. To the point that it looked painful. The vampires must have tried to prevent her from having wolf claws.

My gaze lifted back to her eyes again. They were simply mesmerizing for reasons I simply couldn't explain.

**Back to Chloe's POV**

I wondered how we still planned on doing this seating arrangement. With Emma not having a cast anymore, she didn't take up as much room. But she still would take up a seat. That we did not have.

"Figure it out while I check us out," Matt said and stepped out of the room.

We all looked around waiting for someone to have a brilliant idea.

"Someone is just going to have to suck it up and sit on someone else's lap," Kyle said. "That's really our only solution here. Besides getting a second car."

"We don't have the money for a second car," Liz said.

"Who's it going to be then?" Kyle asked.

Immediately I thought me, I could sit on Derek's lap. That was nothing new. But I was the smallest person here, I took up barely any room. Would me moving be enough? I wasn't sure.

"Liz and I could alternate," Tori suggested after the moment of silence. "How far of a drive could it be?"

We all agreed with Tori's volunteering and grabbed our things. Meeting Matt down at the car a few minutes later. Matt opened the trunk and we dropped our bags in. Matt, myself, Derek, and Kyle sat up front. Everyone else sat in the back. Emma sat against the window with Jeremy beside her. He thought that having only one person beside her would make her feel more at ease.

As we pulled out onto the road, Tori asked the question on all of our minds since her comment.

"How long of a drive will it be?" She asked.

"I picked up an old contact two hours from here. They've got a local nest that is getting out of control. No vampire hunters want to take it on because of how irrational these vampires have been. They kill day and night, I don't know how they haven't exposed the supernatural world yet. Humans must be chalking it up to serial killers again."

Two hours, that wasn't too bad. But a huge nest, that was bad. I wasn't sure if we were up for a challenge like that yet but Matt must think we are. I glanced back at Emma, wondering if we should tell Matt about what happened or not. He probably should know that she had some vampire in her. But he might kill her.

**Short Time Skip**

We only stopped once halfway through the drive for Tori and Liz to switch places. I struggled keeping my eyes open and eventually fell asleep on the drive.

Derek woke me up when we arrived at a farmhouse.

"Where are we?" I said, expecting to see a motel.

"Safe house," Derek said. "Come on."

I got out with everyone else and looked around, it was a nicely kept farmhouse on maybe an acre of yard.

"There's no other cars," Simon pointed out.

"A groundskeeper comes by once a week or so. No one lives here full time," Matt said. There was the tinniest hint of annoyance in his voice. I wondered if he was still mad at Simon for accidentally hurting me.

We grabbed our bags from the trunk and went inside, the door was unlocked. Emma followed us but hung towards the back of the group. Crowds must make her a little uncomfortable still. I hung back to talk to her by the front door.

"You feeling okay?" I asked.

Emma nodded.

"Are you saying that because you think that's what I want to hear?" I asked.

Emma nodded again.

"How are you really feeling?" I asked her.

Emma glanced over at Simon who was exploring the kitchen for food. The house had a very open floor plan. You could see the kitchen living room and the hall to the bedrooms all from the front door.

"He's scary," she whispered.

I stepped inside further so I could shut the door.

"He is a good guy, it was a mistake," I said.

I didn't want to tell her that she was wrong for how she felt but that didn't mean I wouldn't try to get her to trust Simon.

"Mistakes are how evil starts," Emma whispered. "First its an accident. Then they do it on purpose. Mistakes become fun."

"I promise he won't be like that," I said. "His magic is just… sick right now. Come on, let's find a bedroom that hasn't been taken yet."

"A bedroom?" Emma asked.

I nodded, confused on why she was confused.

"I don't get bedrooms," she said.

My heart broke for her, she had been mistreated for so long.

"Well now you do," I said and gently took her hand to lead her down the hallway.

**So sorry its been so long. I again got caught up in a sea of schoolwork. Should be calm this weekend though, I'll be writing a lot these next few days!**


	59. some conversations

**How are you guys liking the name Emma? I liked it at first but now I'm feeling eh about it.**

**That's a great idea though about putting something in Emma's point of view. I know just what scene I want to do that with!**

The home wasn't that big so not everyone was going to be sleeping in a bedroom. There were only two bedrooms with two double beds squeezed into them. Matt, Kyle, and Simon took one room. Emma, Tori, Liz and I took the other room. Jeremy and Derek claimed the living room couches. Which actually were very soft and comfortable.

The house mainly had nonperishable foods so we all took a can or two of food for lunch. As we were sitting around eating, I asked Matt;

"So when are we going to go against this nest? Isn't midday when they are most vulnerable? We should go now."

"Yes that is when its best to go," Matt nodded. "But to be honest, it's been a long time since I have coordinated a group this large. So I need a day to organize a plan."

"So we're going tomorrow then," Tori smiled.

"Yes, most likely."

That sounded good to me, we could get a good night's rest and be prepared by tomorrow. I glanced over at Derek who was looking at me too. I wondered if he was nervous about going out on a vampire hunt with me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Maybe I was just reading into things, he actually seemed calm.

"I don't mean to be rude," Simon spoke up. "But what exactly is the plan with Emma tomorrow? I doubt she wants to come with."

"She's able to make her own decisions," Matt said. "She can stay here if she wants. She doesn't need a full time babysitter."

No one was going to argue with that. If we treated her like she needed a babysitter anymore, how better was her situation?

The rest of the day was sort of boring. Matt buried himself in phone calls and papers strategizing. We sat around. The house did not have a television but did have lots of books. Most of us settled down with a book to pass the time. I stepped outside with Derek. It felt like it had been a while since we had alone time. We sat in the backseat of the car to get out of the snow. There was no outdoor furniture anyway.

"Ready for tomorrow?" Derek asked me.

I nodded, "It'll be nice seeing everyone working together."

Derek nodded.

"Are you?" I asked.

Derek nodded but not with a lot of enthusiasm.

"You don't seem like it," I said.

"I'm a little nervous," Derek admitted. "Matt didn't have to put this much planning in before. Are we really ready for something bigger? Can Matt really watch out for all of us? Its so easy to get separated."

I shrugged, "I think that's some of the reason for doing it. We need to not depend on Matt and he needs to know we can take care of ourselves."

"Fair enough," Derek leaned back against the door so he could look out the window. "But are we ready to make that jump? I think we still depend on him a lot in fights. Cutting the cord so quickly could be dangerous."

I squeezed his hand, "We always make it through. Don't worry too much."

He smiled, "I'll try."

We sat in the car staring out the windows and chatting for who knows how long. The sky was staring to fade to a dark gray when Derek said something that caught me by surprise.

"Do you ever regret falling in love with me?" Derek said quietly.

I looked at him. "Of course not. Why would you ask me something like that?"

His gaze stayed focused on the sky.

"Because your life would be normal if you hadn't. Well, more normal at least."

"Derek, I've always wanted to be a horror movie director. I never wanted normal. Please don't ever think I regret anything that's happened."

"Ok," he pulled me closer to him. "I don't regret it either. I don't know where or what I would be without you."

Shortly after that, Matt called us inside to get some sleep. I stayed on the couch with Derek until he fell asleep then went to my room. Emma was still awake in the bed, sitting on top of the comforter.

"How's your leg?" I asked her, keeping my voice low so I wouldn't wake anyone up.

"Fine," she said, voice low too.

"How long was it broken?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"A long time or a little time?"

"Long," Emma answered.

"I bet it feels good to be able to walk."

"Yes," Emma nodded.

I stretched, my back felt a little stiff from being in the car so long.

"Do you know what you want to do tomorrow?"

I didn't like asking her question after question, it felt a little invasive. But it was the only way so far to get her talking.

Emma didn't answer right away, I waited quietly.

"I'm coming with," she said.

I raised my eyebrows surprised.

"I'm going to get back at them for everything they have done to me. I'm not letting someone else take my revenge."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Alright," I said trying to support her. "Do you know fighting techniques well enough?"

Emma smiled, it sent chills down my spine, "I've survived this long, I think I can handle them."


	60. Scouting town

**I am so so so sorry that it has been so long! I went on spring break and then came back to this virus craziness and got the flu. Things have just been chaotic. **

Thankfully, we had an uneventful night and everyone was rested. Matt woke us up super early and we all sat around eating gross cold canned food while Matt explained today.

It was going to be an all day operation. We were to set out in teams to do surveillance. The vampires were likely still on the prowl now so we needed to find them and where they were nesting. He emphasized we are not to engage with them, just try to locate them.

There was no way of obtaining the layout of wherever they were hiding on such short notice. So we would be going into this part of the plan blind. Once we had a location, we were to wait for the entire group to get there. Everyone was heading in together.

We would need scout the place quickly and quietly, try to locate any exit points because we don't want to rush the front door and have all the vampires run out the back door and get away. With all known exit points covered, we would descend on the vampire nest.

I felt butterflies in my stomach, I was nervous about today and excited. I glanced over at Emma and nodded towards Matt. Trying to gesture that she needed to speak up and tell him. Emma tilted her head watching me, she didn't quite get it at first. When she did she cleared her throat.

"I'm coming with," she said to Matt.

He looked over at her with surprise, "You're sure?"

Emma nodded.

"Alright then," Matt nodded. "Our surveillance should be three teams of three then. I don't want anyone out on their own. Emma can join Jeremy and Tori. I'll be with Simon and Kyle. Chloe, Derek, and Liz will be the third team. Sound good?"

Everyone agreed and we split up to ready. Matt said we had forty-five minutes max. I saw Jeremy pull Emma aside and used my werewolf hearing to listen in from where I was sitting. I pulled out my phone to make it look like I wasn't listening in. I don't normally like to eavesdrop but I wanted to make sure Jeremy wasn't going to lecture Emma about going.

"What is it?" She asked.

Good she was initiating the conversation for once.

"I wanted to talk to you privately," Jeremy said. "I wanted to know how you were doing with…"

Jeremy must have gestured at something.

"I… I'm ok…"

"You know I'll do it for you again."

"N-no. I'm fine."

What were they talking about? Was Jeremy trying to feed her blood again? Liz interrupted my wandering thoughts.

"I'm so glad we got paired up today," she smiled. "Feels like we haven't talked much in a bit. I've been catching up with Tori so much."

I smiled back, "Yeah, I'll be fun."

Everyone came out to the car on time.

"I've made an adjustment to the car to make things more comfortable," Matt said.

We were all curious what that meant, the car looked exactly the same.

"Ever seen the tent in Harry Potter?" Matt smiled at me and opened his door to get in.

We opened the other doors and started sliding in, there was a third row of seats now so we wouldn't be cramped. Everyone was excited.

One team at a time we were dropped off around town. Liz, Derek, and I were designated to scout the south side of town which was mostly residential. It wasn't likely that we were going to find their hideout here but there had been reports of lots of attacks around the homes.

"How does it feel being back?" Derek asked Liz as we walked down the sidewalk.

Liz smiled, "Oh its great to be out of those pajamas, they were starting to get annoying. I missed wearing jeans."

I chuckled, the things that we take for granted every day like pants.

"So how exactly do we find these vampires?" Liz asked. "Are we just waiting to stumble on an attack in progress?"

Derek nodded, "Pretty much, there's practically no way we could identify them without them doing something vampire like."

And so our stroll around town began. Watching every person we passed and listening in on every building for something suspicious.

**Matt's POV**

I pulled up to a fast food parking lot and parked the car. Turned to Simon and Kyle and said, "Alright now it's our turn to join in."

"How likely is it that we will find them?" Kyle asked.

I got out of the car as I answered.

"I think our chances are pretty good considering that they like tormenting the town during the day."

I watched Simon out of the corner of my eye as we began walking down the sidewalk. Don't get me wrong, I liked the kid. But that does not mean I can automatically forgive him for harming Chloe. That was going to be a sore spot for a while. Tess trusted me to take care of her. This was my chance to make up for my mistakes with Lydia and I was failing. There was nothing I could do to help Lydia now but I could still keep Chloe safe.

**Emma's POV (I cannot wait for you guys to see Emma's next POV:D)  
**

I kept glancing back over my shoulder. Being out in the open like this was taking a toll on my nerves. It had been years. I kept expecting my captor vampires to appear and take me away from these kind people. Or that I'd wake up and they were only a dream. This was just too good to be true. I couldn't let myself believe it would last for long.

"What do you keep looking at?" Tori asked me.

"Nothing," I answered.

Simple quick answers were all I had been allowed for years. It wasn't easy to break the programming.

"Please don't give her a hard time," Jeremy spoke up. "You can't expect her to not be on edge after all she's been through."

Tori was looking away from me but I'm sure she rolled her eyes. She seemed like the snotty type.

I thought back to a vampire Tori reminded me of. Her name was Abby. Abby was probably the reason I was still alive. These vampires experimented on so many of us for so long and no matter if the experiment was successful or not, they were almost always killed. But Abby had a fascination with me and never let the others kill me. She tortured me and studied me almost every day but never let me die. I almost think it was her twisted way of showing love. But it was probably just her way of being fascinated. I was one of two werewolves allowed to live.

Abby acted a lot like Tori, snippy, judgmental, demanding. I grew to hate how she loved to hurt me. And now I found myself glaring at the back of Tori's head, as if she were Abby.

Jeremy saw my expression and reached out to comfort me. Probably thinking I was mad about what she said. He was so kind. I felt bad that in the back of my head I was always trying to figure out if he had other intentions. It was so hard to believe someone was just nice and nothing more.


	61. Factory part 1

**I struggle with what to do with the characters during downtime because I don't want to bore my readers, so I love hearing suggestions! I think teaching Emma would actually be a really fun scene to do to show more about the characters! Thank you Thatreader2003!**

**Deciding to do a time skip here because its them walking around town with nothing really happening. So we're jumping to when something happens. (Again me not knowing how to do downtime very well.)**

**Matt's POV**

Of course it was another factory. These vampires couldn't just hold up in nice hotels. Kyle was the one to spot them as we passed by the industrial district. They were sneaking around behind the building. Likely to a hidden entrance.

We walked back out of the industrial district and waited for the others to arrive. Within the hour everyone was here.

We scoped out the building and got positioned around it. Simon, Derek, and Tori were in charge of finding the back entrance Kyle spotted them using. Jeremy, Chloe, and Emma were in charge of the main factory entrance that had been boarded up. Mainly because I didn't want them inside, not that I would ever admit that out loud. I didn't want Chloe getting hurt and who knows how this new girl would react to the vampires. She would probably crumble to the ground and become a liability and distraction.

We found a hole in the wall on the east side that I put Liz and Kyle in charge of. Even though Kyle didn't have powers, he and Liz were kind of immortal so they made a great pair.

I entered through Liz and Kyle's post and whispered to myself as I wrapped my fingers around the edge of my sword. "Let the games begin."

**Side note since its been awhile, what Matt is referring to here is how their lives are linked to those who gave blood during the spell. As long as those who gave blood are alive, so are Liz and Kyle.**

**Derek's POV**

I didn't understand why Matt had so many guarding the boarded up front entrance but I didn't think it was the time to argue. The more noise we made outside, the more likely they would know we were here. The building wasn't too big.

I stepped towards the hidden entrance, which really wasn't so hidden if you knew it was here. Crumbled old stairs that lead to a basement probably, were covered in boards and trash.

As quietly as I could I moved the biggest boards aside and stepped through. It was filthy and dark. Even with my enhanced vision I could only make out what was immediately around me.

"Be careful," Simon said as he shifted some of the boards.

The next step of the plan was for me and whoever else was chosen to start sweeping through the factory from our entrances inward. In five or so minutes, two more would join and repeat until everyone was inside. Matt said taking turns sweeping through would make sure no rooms would be missed, no vampires would be able to get away. But again why were Chloe and the others at the front door not coming in?

The basement was very quiet and pretty empty. It was probably used for storage when the factory was still being used. There were some discarded cardboard boxes but the rest was just trash.

**Liz's POV**

Matt stepped in and the timer began. I glanced over at Kyle and said quietly, "Who's going next?"

Kyle shrugged, "I can. You've got the powers don't you? You can keep them from leaving better than me."

He pulled a knife from his shoe and checked the time. I didn't mind him going first, this was one of his first supernatural experiences that he could interact with. Better to be his backup than to have him as backup.

The time hit five minutes, things were still quiet from what we could hear. Kyle held his knife at the ready and stepped in. there was a sparkle of excitement in his eyes, he was finally part of the game not just watching it. I listened to his footsteps gradually fade away.

**Matt's POV**

The factory was full of various machines. It was hard to make out what kind of things were made here once.

I wanted to use my magic to detect life in the building but I knew that it wouldn't work with the kids here with me. So I went station to station looking for signs of life. I should've had Chloe scan for dead bodies, they probably didn't have any but if they did it would tell us where they were hiding here.

I paused next to a conveyor belt; the belt was smeared with blood. Maybe they had brought people or bodies back with them. It was fresh, likely from the last day or two.

Footsteps echoed softly underneath me, was the kids or the vampires in the basement? Before I could try to answer that, the vampires found me first.

He descended on me from behind and clawed my back. My jacket took the blunt of his nails by the still managed to break the skin. Hissing in pain, I spun around and pulled my sword from my side.

This vampire wasn't the talkative type, he snarled and lunged at me again. A swift swing of my sword and his head rolled away from my feet.

These vampires were feral, untrained, savages. This thing didn't try to defend himself at all, he just tried to go in for the kill. I nudged the body with my foot until it was under the conveyor belt. One less tripping hazard in this place.

The floor near my entrance creaked. The next round of us were coming in. With four of us here, it was time to stir things up. I inhaled deeply and let out the loudest whistle I could.

Right on cue, footsteps started running my way.

**Derek's POV**

There were no vampires down here but I was still finding my way out when Matt started whistling. I had just found the staircase when dust started falling from the ceiling. The vampires, wherever they had been, were out now.

I rushed up the stairs, vampire gun in hand. As soon as I cleared the top step I started firing in their direction. There was too many descending on Matt, he could never take them on his own. Two fell to the ground, the rest of my shots must not have been very good hits. But it was enough to get their attention. Some vampires turned and spotted me. Their faces were caking in old blood and their eyes were black like a night sky.

Simon appeared beside me smiling, "Took you a while to figure out that basement, huh?"

I didn't have time to react to Simon's teasing. The vampires were on us quickly. I fired off some more shots and drew my blade. The vampires tackled us, wrestling and cutting us with razor fingers. We fought back with our knifes, not letting their faces close enough to bite.

I landed a fatal stab in one vampire's chest. He slid off the knife and onto the floor. I turned to the next vampire to find him having Simon pinned against the wall, teeth inched from his neck. Simon's knife was at his feet, his hands were pushing on the vampire's shoulders as hard as he could.

I shot the vampire and grabbed Simon as he picked up the knife.

"We need to keep moving," I said following the path the vampires came from.

Quickly we found their nesting room, it was once an office but now it looked like a horror movie. Blood and pieces of body parts scattered the walls and floor. But we didn't have time to be horrified by what we saw. A trio of vampires were standing in the center of the room with hungry eyes.


	62. Factory part 2

**Emma's POV**

Chloe groaned. We could hear gunshots going off inside but we were posted out here. It was obvious the man…Matt was his name right?… didn't want us going in.

"Screw this," Chloe grabbed a plank holding the door shut and pulled.

"Chloe!" Jeremy panicked as the wood cracked loudly.

"I'm going in," she grabbed another.

I smelled blood inside but couldn't tell if it was fresh or old. My stomach rumbled and Jeremy must have heard it from the look his gave me.

"Emma," he warned.

I grabbed onto the planks with Chloe and we tore them off. All my mind could think was blood blood blood. Chloe kicked and the door finally busted open. In the middle of the factory floor was an all out brawl. Vampires and Jeremy's friends tearing each other up. Brilliant red blood flying everywhere. Chloe dashed in and joined, jumping on a vampire that was fighting her boyfriend. The smell of blood was too strong I couldn't stop myself.

"Emma!" Jeremy was running after me.

When did I run into the building? Where were my feet taking me? My body acted on instinct, I was trapped inside my mind. I watched as I tackled a vampire and sank my teeth into its neck.

**Chloe's POV**

Finally. I was fighting side by side with Derek and it was awesome. There was no other way to put it even though it was a little scary. I raised the vampires as they died and ordered them to attack the other vampires. Derek covered me as I commanded them. Firing at advancing vampires. How many bullets did that thing have? It felt like something out of an epic movie, like battle music should be playing around us.

Very quickly the vampires were defeated, our team was growing too big with my zombies for them to be able to win. I released my zombies and the factory quickly fell from screams and shouts to silence.

"Damn," Simon smiled as the last vampire fell.

He was standing on top of a detached bulldozer front. Vampire blood splattered all over his shirt.

"Nice job," he said.

"Mhm," Matt nodded. "Good thinking adding to our numbers Chloe. Use that in the future for sure."

He wasn't yelling at me for joining? Maybe he knew I would all along. Or maybe it was because I was still standing virtually unharmed.

Liz and Tori appeared around Simon's bulldozer, they must have chased some vampires trying to flee. It was hard to keep track of where everyone was during the fight. They had some cuts but nothing too serious that I could see.

Jeremy grabbed my shoulder and pun me around to face him, his eyes were wide with panic.

"Help," he whispered.

"I'm uh going to help Jeremy track down Emma," I called over to Matt.

Derek turned to follow.

"Hold on Derek, I need your strength. Help me move the bodies, we can't leave them here like this."

Jeremy dragged me away from the group before I could hear Derek's response.

"I'm sure she's fine," I said.

"Chloe, she attacked the vampires and started drinking from them. I can't let the others see that."

I searched around but couldn't see her around any of the machinery. I grabbed Jeremy to stop him and listened. Far off to our left was uneven breathing. I pointed to my ears then to our left, trying to get Jeremy to use his werewolf hearing. Jeremy dashed towards it as soon as he did.

We rounded a machine that looked like it was for crushing big objects. Maybe it was used for trash/waste? Emma was against the machine, knees to her chest and covered in blood. Beside her was the body of another vampire. But the breathing we heard wasn't coming from Emma. Standing ten or so feet back from her was Kyle.

Jeremy rushed to her side while I approached a terrified looking Kyle who was stilling holding his knife.

"Kyle…"

"She… she…"

"I know," I gently took the knife from his hand.

Kyle's shocked expression moved from Emma to me.

"You knew she was one of them?"

I moved in between them more to Kyle's gaze would stay on me.

"You were ok with me being vampiric, what's wrong with her being the same way?"

Kyle stumbled over his words, "It's not that there's something wrong with it. Though she does seem to have impulse problems. I just think that it's something we should have known Chloe. I mean what else did they do to her? What is she going to do to us?"

I glanced over at Jeremy frantically trying to clean up some of the blood.

"It'll be ok," he kept saying to her.

"I don't know what else they did," I took Kyle's hand as Jeremy got Emma to stand and we all walked back. Kyle watched her suspiciously the whole time.

The bodies were piled up to be burned when we got back to the group. Matt didn't want to leave evidence of supernatural activity. The problem was getting back to Matt's car. We could wait here for the car to pick us up but someone still had to go get it. Matt didn't seem concerned like the rest of us though so he must have a plan for getting back to his car.


	63. Lock the door at night

***Mischievous laughter* That gives me a fun idea with Chloe since she hasn't figure that out yet. They aren't going to have downtime just yet;D  
**

**Jeremy's POV**

Matt figured out a way to get to his car, I wasn't really listening. I think he was going to use magic to do it. We were to wait here until he showed up with the car.

Emma was going back to the state we found her in; scared, shaking, quiet. Everyone but Kyle and Chloe thought it was because of the vampires. But Emma was actually scared of herself. I brought her off to the side and we sat down against the wall.

"What the hell happened?" I asked softly.

Emma picked at the dried blood on her fingernails.

"Emma," I pressed.

"I couldn't control," she said finally. "It was like watching someone else's body."

I set my hand on hers to get her to stop picking. She wouldn't look up at me though.

"We all help each other around here," I said. "So let me help you. Derek taught me how to manage impulse control."

Emma shook her head quickly.

"I don't mean we're telling him, I'm saying let me teach you what he taught me."

"Oh."

"Trust me, ok? It won't work if you don't trust me. And this is something we need to work on, you don't want to accidentally attack one of these guys right?"

Emma shook her head and laid it on my shoulder.

"Good," I gently gave her hand a squeeze.

**Chloe's POV**

Tori and Simon decided to go around and do one more sweep for bodies in the building. The whole place was likely going to go down as soon as we lit the pile on fire but we wanted to be thorough.

"That was great," I smiled at Derek.

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow.

I nodded, "Of course! All of us fighting together, working together, winning together. Wasn't that an adrenaline rush?"

Derek rolled his eyes at me amused. I think he was happy that everything went so smoothly. No one was seriously hurt for once, and he got to fight beside me while protecting me. A best case scenario for an overprotective werewolf.

"There is one thing I have been wondering though," Derek said. I noticed the others listening in curiously. "Matt said that these vampires have been really active during the day, torturing the humans and all that."

We nodded.

"So then why were so many holed up here in a factory during the day," Derek pointed out.

That made me stop and think.

"Maybe they were resting from a busy night," Liz suggested.

"Or maybe this wasn't all of them," Kyle suggested.

A small shiver went down my spine, I couldn't count how many we had just fought but it was a fairly large nest. To think that there were potentially even more vampires roaming this town right now, coming back to this nest any minute. I did not like that.

"So then we stick around town for a few more days," I said. "Do some patrolling, watch the news to see what they say about their serial killer. If there are no more attacks then we probably got them all."

"But still why? Why were they here?" Derek frowned. "It just doesn't sit right with me."

It didn't sit right with any of us.

Matt showed up maybe half an hour later. He gave us all bottles of water to try to rinse ourselves off with so we didn't look like a bunch of murderers when we drove back. While we washed up, Derek shared with Matt his concerns.

"That's a really good point," Matt nodded. "I think you guys are right that we should stick around for a bit just to make sure it is all of them."

We rinsed off, dried off as best as we could, then piled in the car as Matt lit the fire. I noticed Kyle made an effort to sit as far back as he could to keep distance between him and Emma. Convincing him that she wasn't going to hurt us was not going to be the easiest task and he was one of the most easygoing of the group. What were the rest of them going to say when they found out?

It was snowing again by the time we got back to the safe house. We all climbed out and kicked around the snow for a bit while we waited for our turn in the shower. Everyone was too tired to actually do something with the snow, too tired for snowballs even. After my turn in the shower, I climbed right into bed and fell asleep.

**Some time later**

…ting… ting… crunch…

What was that? It sounded like someone breaking glass.

I rolled over and rubbed my eyes as I sat up. The small window between the two beds was not broken. But we forgot the draw the shade, the bright moon cast shadows all around the room.

Come on Chloe did you forget you have advanced hearing? It could have come from anywhere in the house. But it could have also been my imagination.

I slipped out of bed and tip toed out of the room. The boy's bedroom door was cracked so I popped my head in. That window was fine too. There was no window in the bathroom so I stepped out to the living room. The windows were fine from what I could tell. I stepped over to Derek's couch to wake him, maybe if he could double check them I would know if I was crazy.

I pulled back the blanket. No Derek just two pillows.

"What the-"

Ting… ting…click…

There it was again but it was a click not a crunch, I'd been too far away to hear it clearly before I guess. It was the sound of someone trying to move a door handle as quietly as possible. What was Derek doing outside? He doesn't really flee to change anymore.

I stepped into the kitchen to find Derek and see what he was up to. A voice whispered on the other side of the door making me freeze.

"Sedated right?"

I came closer to the door, that wasn't Derek's voice. Something sharp poked the back of my neck and I froze again.

"You should've stayed in bed."

The stench of blood came off his breath. Vampires followed us home.

"No," I said.

The sharp object pressed harder against my neck, breaking the skin. The back of my neck started to feel cold.

I wish I was quick enough to make a smart remark before I made a move but I didn't have one. I lifted my right foot and swung backwards as hard as I could, hoping to connect with something sensitive. The cold spread and things felt fuzzy as I spun around. Did my kick even make contact with the vampire?

**Which vampires do you guys think it is? Remains from the nest they just attacked coming for revenge or did Emma's nest finally track them down? **


	64. Believe me

Everything was dark and fuzzy, like waking up from a really deep sleep.

"Chloe?" echoed by me.

I blinked as everything came into focus. Simon kneeled over me and there was a bright light behind him. Was it day? No the living room light was on.

"What're you doing on the floor?" He asked.

"Vampires… Derek… click… cold…" I knew I wasn't making any sense but I was so confused.

Simon stared at me confused. I took a deep breath and looked around, Simon helped me sit up.

"Easy easy," he said softly. "You might have hit your head."

"Derek?" I asked for him.

Simon shook his head, "Chloe, I'm Simon."

I looked at the couch, it was the same way I saw it before, two pillows and a blanket. No Derek.

"He's in your room Chloe," Simon caught on to what I was asking for. "I can go get him for you."

I grabbed Simon's arm before he could move.

"Vampires," I said. "Vampires took Derek."

Simon really looked concerned for me now.

"Come on, I'll show you."

Simon helped me to my feet and brought me to the bedroom door. There was Derek, laying right beside where I had been sleeping.

He brought me back out to the living and we sat down.

"See? He's right in there."

"But vampires were here," I said. "I heard them. They attacked me."

"Where were you attacked?" Simon asked.

I gestured to my neck as best as I could, it felt pretty stiff from being on the floor for so long. Simon pushed my hair aside and looked.

"It's just a scratch Chloe," Simon said. "You were imagining things."

"I was not!" I demanded.

Simon tried to shush me but it was too late. A sleepy Derek popped his head out of the bedroom door and squinted against the living room light.

"What is going on out here?"

"Chloe says vampires were here, took you, and sedated her," Simon said. "I found her on the kitchen floor."

Derek stepped out all the way and closed the door softly behind him.

"Excuse me?"

"They were here," I said. "I swear."

Derek sat on the other side of me. He looked more exhausted than he did after the factory. Was he going to change again? That would explain why he didn't hear the vampires, Derek always sleeps deeper when he's going to change. They also talked about sedatives though, maybe they drugged Derek somehow.

"I don't mean to be rude Chloe," Derek said. "But if there were vampires here why are we all still alive? And why is nothing out of place?"

"They might have been scoping us out," I said. "While we are sleeping is the best time for them to see what they are up against."

"Chloe you were dreaming," Simon sighed.

"What about being in the kitchen?" I argued.

"Sleepwalking," Simon said.

"What about my neck?" I said.

"What happened to your neck?" Derek asked.

"She scratched it," Simon said.

"What about the scents," I argued.

"Chloe this place smells like vampire because we just fought a bunch of them." Derek rubbed in between his eyes.

I couldn't argue with that I guess; our bloody clothes were piled up right outside the bathroom. Maybe I had dreamed it?

"You need some sleep," Simon said. "Go back to bed and we'll see what Matt says about it in the morning. Ok?"

"No not ok. Someone needs to stand watch. They could come back."

"I will then," Simon smiled at me.

I felt like he was just saying it to make me feel better and he wouldn't actually stay up. But I couldn't help that it made me feel better regardless. Derek guided me back to the bedroom and we fell asleep.

I didn't sleep well for the rest of the night, I kept waking up expecting something bad to have happened. But nothing else did. And Simon kept his word, he stayed up and made sure no one was breaking into the house. When everyone else woke up, Simon passed out almost immediately.

Derek told Matt about last night and everything I thought I saw. Matt seemed concerned but it was more of a concerned about me than a concern that it really happened.

"I'm not crazy," I muttered under my breath as they talked.

Matt didn't say anything to me about it as we ate our gross canned breakfast.

"Today," he said to everyone as we finished up. "We are going to do some more patrolling around town. Just to make sure the job is done. If anyone finds access to a newspaper or television, please try to find out what the humans are saying about their decrease in serial killer activity."

"Would they really notice the decrease after one day?" Jeremy asked skeptically.

Matt shrugged, "I have no idea when they will notice, that's why we need to stay on top of things."

Matt divided us up into groups of three again and put me with him and Kyle. Probably to talk to me about last night as privately as possible.

We got dressed, cleaned up Matt's poor bloody car seats, and then began our day.

**Tiny Time Skip**

"Chloe," Matt said as we walked along. I was on his right, Kyle on his left. "Do we need to talk about last night?"

"Last night?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"I swear it was real," I said. "The vampires came and scouted out the house."

"What?" Kyle almost shouted.

"You could be right," Matt said. "But why would they leave you alive if you had seen them?"

I shrugged.

"I'm not saying that you are lying, Chloe. I'm on the fence. It could have just been a realistic dream. But I want to air on the side of caution in case that really did happen. We'll all take turns staying up nights until we leave this town."

I didn't like that he didn't fully believe me but at least he wasn't fully dismissing me. I'll take it.

"I'll go first," Kyle volunteered.

Matt smiled and nodded, "Sounds good."


	65. Vampire diner

**Warning to any younger viewers that there is two instances of swearing towards the middle/end of this chapter.**

We walked around the town for two hours with nothing happening. I don't think anything was happening with the other groups either because we had not heard from them.

"Can we get something to eat?" Kyle asked. "I'm starving."

Matt agreed and we stopped at the next diner we found.

The waitress was surprised to see us walk in. She quickly got from the booth she was sitting in and came to the door.

"Why hello," she smiled. "My apologies, we haven't had much business lately."

She grabbed menus and lead us to a table. She had short blonde hair with little curls in it and pale skin. She was wearing a touch too much makeup but it didn't look too bad. I would guess she was in her mid thirties or so. She didn't seem that old.

"May I ask why?" Matt asked.

As we sat I finally caught a glimpse of her nametag, Amanda.

"Oh you must not be from around here," Amanda said. "We've had some trouble with crime lately. No one wants to leave their houses anymore."

"That's too bad," Matt said.

"I know it sounds ominous, but just be sure to watch who's around you while you're in town. Now, on a happier note what can I get you to drink?"

We all ordered waters to keep the bill low. Amanda brought them to the table immediately, it wasn't like she had anyone else to look after right now. We each ordered burgers and fries.

"So it doesn't sound like anyone has noticed yet," I said.

"Can you blame them?" Matt replied. "It's been a day."

Kyle passive aggressively muttered, "Yeah I guess a lot of things can go on unnoticed."

"What?" said Matt.

"Nothing," I said, way to quick.

"What's going unnoticed?" Matt asked.

"Emma," Kyle said.

"Kyle," I hissed.

"Cats out of the bag Chloe," Matt shut down my attempts to quiet Kyle. "What is going on with Emma? Its not unnoticeable that she's struggling."

"What's unnoticed is what she's struggling with," Kyle said.

Matt's expression showed he wasn't a fan of Kyle being cryptic and giving bit of information. There was ding of a little bell by the counter and the chef called out, "Order up."

"Matt," I tried to remain calm on the outside.

"What?"

"That voice," my breathing got heavier.

Amanda brought over our food. The cook's scent still lingered on the edges of the plates where he'd touched them.

"Enjoy," she smiled and walked back to her booth.

"Thank you," Matt nodded to her then turned his attention back on me. "Chloe what's wrong?"

"That voice… the scent…" I looked at them. "We need to get out of here now."

"What are you talking about?" Kyle was concerned now too.

"The cook is the vampire from last night," I thought I was going to pass out from hyperventilating.

Any of the others who weren't sure if last night was real, probably wouldn't have believed me. But I knew that smell and that voice. Matt's arm twitched like he was moving something in his sleeve. A knife?

"You're positive?" Matt asked.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" I snipped.

"What do we do?" Kyle asked, he saw that Matt prepared something in his sleeve too. "We're horrible people if we do something to him and he isn't actually a vampire."

Matt started whispering something under his breath, I tried to decipher it but couldn't. It sounded a lot like when Tori did spells in other languages.

A light red liquid began to seep from our burgers and onto our plates.

"Ew! What's that?"

Matt's expression got even more serious.

"Poison."

He had done a spell to see if there was anything in our food! Oh god.

"Chloe, call the-"

Matt was interrupted by a blow to the back of the head by the waitress. He slumped off his chair onto the ground.

"Matt!" I jumped up.

Amanda went to strike him again but Kyle caught her arm. I didn't see what happened next because I was the cook's target. He came rushing out from behind the counter.

"You should've left town when you had the chance you little bitch," He spat at me.

I quickly tried to grab a small knife I had stashed in the back of my waistband but this guy was too fast. That must be how I didn't hear him come up behind me last night. In the blink of an eye he was an inch from my face, hands around my throat, nails cutting into my neck.

I gasped for breath and tried to push him off me. Struggling as hard as I could against him but I couldn't push him off.

"No," I gasped.

The edges of my vision going hazy.

"What was that bitch?" He snickered. "I can't hear you."

I felt a bubble of anger rise up in my gut. My arms tingled and my vision faded to black. I was not going to go out this way.

"NO!" was screamed and I swear a bomb went off.

The vampire's grip disappeared and I dropped to the floor. Every window in the diner shattered into thousands of tiny pieces. My mouth and hands seared with pain as I coughed trying to get my breath back. The ground shook beneath me.

"Chloe!" Kyle shouted over the deafening rumble. "Stop!"

Stop? What did he mean stop?

My vision came back into focus and the rumbling ground stopped. The diner was obliterated from the earthquake, and red dots were sprayed all around the ground by us.

My eyes landed on a pair of shoes standing in front of me. I slowly lifted my gaze to the vampire and Amanda, standing there glaring at me with indescribable hatred.

I started backing away from them but slipped in the red dots. Blood?

"Chloe?" Kyle said cautiously.

Amanda and the man started to fade away.

"They're dead?" I whispered through panicked gasps.

"What did you do?"

"I-I didn't, t-that was whoever screamed…"

"That was you. Your necromancy magic practically disintegrated them."

I shook my head, no that was not me. I wasn't that powerful. Tori was way more powerful than me. This wasn't real.

My head seared with pain as I shook it. Why did my mouth and hands get the blunt of the broken glass?

I looked down at my hands…it wasn't broken glass… claws had extended from my finger tips. This was not real… Shaking I brought my hand to my mouth. Werewolf fanged teeth…

"Kyle," I was hyperventilating again.

But Kyle was as freaked out as I was.

"What did your magic do?"

"I-I-"

Matt started coughing and woke up. He looked around at the destroyed diner as he sat up.

"What the hell happened?"

I pulled my sleeves over my hands and covered my mouth before Matt laid eyes on me.

"We won," I said through the fabric.

"Where are they?" Matt tried to see the dead bodies.

Kyle pointed at the splatter all over the floor. Matt looked at it in disbelief but before he asked us what we did, he spotted the gashes on my neck.

"Chloe, you're bleeding pretty bad."

Matt moved around the tipped over table and grabbed my arm to move it out of his way. He had good intention, my neck was bleeding pretty bad. But I refused to budge.

"Chloe," He frowned at me.

"Matt," Kyle said. "Her magic did this…"

"You did all of this?"

I released my grip on my sleeves and slowly dropped my hands from my face. Matt didn't hide the shock in his eyes. He knew I had a lot of power, but did he know I was capable of doing this?

Matt took one of my hands in his and gently put his other under my chin. He examined me for a minute before refocusing on stopping the bleeding on my neck. Matt healed it as he stared at my fangs and claws. He looked at my eyes a lot, they must have changed too.

Finally I couldn't take the pressure building in my chest, I burst into tears. Matt immediately pulled me close to him, laying my head on his chest. His heart beat was surprisingly calm.

"Shhh," he said as he held me close. "It'll be ok. We can figure this out."


	66. Chapter 66

**Matt's POV**

This was it. I had failed at keeping Chloe safe. Here she sat beside me sobbing half human half werewolf, now realizing the extent of her power. And all I could do was say everything was gong to be ok. But to be honest I don't know if it was all ok. Maybe Chloe would be better off going home to Tess where her powers wouldn't be tested so much. She wouldn't be in situations that forced her into using them there.

I scooped Chloe up and brought her to the bathroom. Kyle rinsed up in one sink while I cleaned up Chloe at the other. Wiping blood away and pulling out little pieces of glass. How had no humans come to see what happened here yet? The vampires or 'serial killer' really was scaring this town into not leaving their homes.

"We don't want to draw human attention," I said. "So Chloe I want you to wear your hood up until we get to the car. It's not too far of a walk."

Chloe nodded. She pulled her hood up and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

We exited the diner and started walking in the direction of the car.

"Kyle would you mind calling the other groups for updates?" Matt asked.

"We're calling it in for the day?" Kyle asked.

I nodded, "I think we need to regroup."

Chloe shook as we walked, she was terrified of what the others would do when they saw her. I tried to think of the right thing to say the whole walk back to the car. Except for Kyle's chatting on the phone, it was dead silence.

We approached the car and I opened the door for the two to slide in. Chloe got in first so she would be sitting in between us. Kyle shut the door and I rounded the car to get in my side.

I sighed as I shut the door and buckled.

"Listen Chloe. I'm not going to make you go face them if you don't want to. I can take you and Kyle home first then get everyone else."

Chloe brought her knees onto the seat and hugged them.

"I don't know how to fix this," she said.

"Chloe," Kyle joined in the conversation. "You just proved how powerful you are. You can fix that if you put your mind to it. No problem."

"I can't use my power like that again," she said. "That scares the hell out of me."

"What's our other options then?" I asked. "I don't know if Tori's magic can alter appearance."

"Changing," Chloe's gaze was fixed on the radio instead of either of us.

"Excuse me?" Kyle asked.

"Changing," she repeated. "Make me change into a wolf and back. It'll go away."

My heart broke for her, she was so scared of her true level of power that she was willing to go through the pain of changing species. God what had I done to this poor girl.

"If you're sure about this," I said. "I'll bring you two home to do it. I don't think that should go down in the car, there isn't enough room."

"I'm sure," Chloe nodded.

I put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking space.

"You remember Tess of course," I started awkwardly.

"Yeah."

"Sweetie, I think maybe you should go stay with her for a while after this. I think you need some time in a calmer environment."

"What?" Chloe exclaimed. "Absolutely not. Nothing against Tess, I love her. But I'm not leaving this team."

I had a feeling that Chloe was just trying to prove she could handle it though. She probably did want to go home to Tess. No one stayed around me for very long.

**Chloe's POV**

Kyle and I got out of the car and Matt started backing out of the driveway to get the others. He told us he would give us as much time as he could but once Derek knew what was going on he wouldn't be able to stall.

"I'm going to stay outside," I told Kyle. "There's more space out here."

Kyle shook his head, "Chloe we are standing in a foot of snow. There is no way in hell I am letting you do that out here."

I sighed and came inside with him. Kicking my shoes off once we got in the door.

"So I take it that you're also not letting me do this alone," I said.

Kyle smiled and nodded, "You are correct. I've seen this go down before. I can see it again."

I sat down on the living room floor, it was the room with the most space. Kyle locked the front door before coming over to me.

"Why did you lock it?" I asked.

"So it takes them longer to get inside," Kyle smiled like he was a genius. "We have no warning if they can just step inside, if the door is locked we will hear them coming because the door handle will jiggle."

He sat down beside me.

"Are you sure you don't want to try your magic?" He asked. "No one is here, no one will know if something goes wrong."

I closed my eyes and mentally put myself back in the factory, remembering all the confidence that flowed through me as I used my necromancy magic. If I chickened out now I might lose that confidence I built.

"Alright, I guess I can try."

Kyle moved so he was sitting in front of me facing me and took my hands.

"Just close your eyes and focus on drawing your power in," Kyle said. "I'll be right here the whole time."

I shut my eyes and focused on my power but instead of scanning for bodies or shoving souls into bodies; I focused on picturing my power. I imagined that it was surrounding me just like air and I was pulling it in. I pulled it from the house into the room. From the room to around me. From there into me. I imagined the magic absorbing into my skin like water.

Every time a drop of magic was absorbed it traveled to my head and hands, transforming them back into human characteristics.

I sighed and opened my eyes.

"This is stupid, no one just changed their body by imagining magic changing it."

Kyle raised an eyebrow at me with a little smirk.

"What?" I asked. Was he happy that he would get to watch me change or something?

Kyle moved his fingers off of mine. I was looking down at normal human fingers!

"Now do you believe how powerful you are if you just focus?" Kyle said.

"There is no way," I didn't believe it.

I touched my teeth, normal and human.

"It didn't hurt though," I said.

"Because you didn't want it to hurt," Kyle pointed out. "Your magic, your choice."

This was going to take some time to wrap my head around.


	67. Packing and arguing

**Chloe's POV**

We continued our group searches over the next few days, finding vampires who were pretending to be humans to hide from us. Matt admitted this was one of the biggest and most complex groups he had encountered. Vampire nests were usually smart or savage not both.

Matt told everyone about our encounter at the diner but left out me having a power burst. He left me to tell who I wanted to about it. I told Derek immediately following Matt catching them up. Derek was concerned for me but didn't know what to do about it right now. He told me that we would just have to learn limitations so I wouldn't hurt anyone. Derek was also concerned about Simon's magic problems. Simon's magic was building up since he hadn't used it in these last few days of walking about. Derek was waiting for someone to get hurt again.

Today was our last day at this safe house, Matt believed we got all the vampires and there was more vampire hunters on their way to come and stay and double check our work.

Derek and Simon were arguing about his magic as they packed their bags in the boys room. I stood in the doorway but their backs were to me so I don't think they noticed me.

"You can keep saying that we need to figure it out all you want," Simon said. "But until you have a suggestion how to-"

"So I'm the only one trying to come up with solutions then?"

Simon's hands were shaking as he placed the last of his socks in the side pocket.

"Derek," he warned. "You don't like it if I make you angry. Don't do it to me right now."

"Or what?" You can't hurt me so easily."

Derek was doing this on purpose, trying to get Simon to use some magic on him. Simon knew what he was doing too and was trying not to give in.

"Stop," Simon said.

"No," Derek said simply. "You're reaching your limit and someone's bound to get hurt again."

"I think I know better than you with this."

I cleared my throat and spoke up, getting their attention. "Ahem. When you two are finished we are leaving."

"This isn't a good time for-" Derek started.

"You're right," I interrupted. "This isn't a good time for you two to be arguing. Matt has a schedule for us to keep."

"Fine," Derek growled and brushed past me with his bag in hand.

I smiled at Simon, "You know that he means well right? He's just trying to make sure no one is hurt, including you."

"I know," Simon frowned, hands still shaking. "But can't he just trust me that I can handle it?"

"He does," I said. "He just has a weird way of showing it."

Simon chuckles and picks up his bag. We join everyone outside.

"Where are we going next?" Jeremy asks. He and Emma have been glued to each other these last few days. He was coaxing her back out of her shell gradually.

Matt looked at me before answering.

"We are headed to Washington," he said. "Get comfortable because its going to be a long ride."

We threw our bags in the trunk and pilled in the car. I sat in between Derek and Simon, figuring that if they sat side by side they would end up fighting again. But even the space between them didn't stop them for long.

An hour into the drive Derek called Simon out.

"Would you do some magic so you stop shaking?"

"Small spells won't help," Simon said.

I had noticed his shaking since we got into the car but tried to ignore it. Simon had obviously been trying to stop it from being so obvious.

"So don't do a small spell then," Derek rolled his eyes.

"Derek," I snapped. "Stop. You can't be a jerk about one person's magic and nice about another's."

From the look on his face, Derek knew that I was right. He couldn't be concerned about me and rude to Simon. He looked back at Simon.

"Please? Please do some magic before you give one of the two of us a panic attack."

The spell was probably still considered small but it took a lot of concentration from Simon. For the next our of the drive he did card tricks for us but the cards were levitating and moving in front of him. Simon never physically touched them.


	68. The ride to Washington

The rest of the ride was not very eventful. When we were about an hour from wherever our Washington destination was, we stopped at a rest stop. There was no snow around here, just muck from the rain. Everything smelled like a muddy swamp.

"Hey," I said to Emma and Jeremy, motioning them to the side. "How are things going?"

Emma made eye contact with me which I counted as a positive sign.

"She's refusing to take my blood anymore," Jeremy said.

"I can't risk hurting him," Emma said. "I lost control at the factory. I can't do that again."

I totally understood what she meant, how many times had one of us lost control or refused to do something because it put others in danger? It was practically a routine part of life now.

"So how are you getting blood?" I asked.

"She's not," Jeremy said annoyed.

This must have been an argument between them.

"Emma," I said softly, trying to keep things calm. "It's important for you to drink blood. Avoiding it is only putting Jeremy more at risk for getting hurt. The longer you starve the more control you will lose."

"Thank you," Jeremy threw up his arms.

"How did you get blood when you were imprisoned?" I asked her ignoring Jeremy.

She shrugged, "They either gave me bags or they let me take what was left over from their kills. I've lived on the bare minimum this far, I can keep it up."

I shook my head, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Emma, we are getting you some blood now."

"Now?" Her eyes widened in fear.

I took her hand, "Come with me to the bathroom."

We left Jeremy confused and concerned and walked up the sidewalk the rest of the way. We entered the rest area and as we were about to enter the women's restroom, Emma stopped me.

"I can't hurt a stranger," she said.

"I never planned on that," I guided her into the handicapped stall where we would have more space.

"Chloe," she figured it out.

I pulled my hair up into a quick ponytail and yanked down my shirt collar as best as I could.

"You need to hurry, we don't have much time."

"No," she shook her head. "I said no to Jeremy. I can't hurt you guys."

"Please," I bordered on pleading. "I'll nap in the car and it'll be just fine. Besides, I'm a hybrid. I can handle a lot more than Jeremy can. You won't hurt me."

The women's restroom door opened and Liz's voice called out.

"Chloe? Emma? You in here?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Just give another minute please."

"Ok, but hurry up. Matt wants to hit the road."

The door shut and it was just the two of us again.

"Hurry up before I nick the skin," I said.

I wasn't serious, I wouldn't force Emma into drinking my blood. But she was so easily intimidated from her years of torture that she didn't realize I wouldn't really do it. She stepped closer and latched onto my neck.

I waited until my fingertips felt a little cold, at that point I knew she had taken a lot.

"Ok," I said and pushed her off of me.

Emma looked scared of what she had done but her starvation was gone.

"Clean up. Quickly."

Emma rushed to the sink and started scrubbing her face. I gave healing a shot. I mean scars were dead skin right? So wouldn't I be able to make scars? I had no idea if I was right but it was worth a shot. I imagined my magic stitching the cuts back together into scars and it worked. I came up to the mirror and the cuts were gone. I wiped off remaining blood with a wet paper towel.

Emma looked at me, "I want to hate you and thank you."

"What?"

"I want to thank you for doing that for me, that was brave of you and indescribably helpful. But I also want to hate that you put your life in danger like that for me. You shouldn't do that."

I smiled at her and started walking towards the door as I threw my paper towel away.

"One thing you will learn if you stick around us, is that you shouldn't do that is practically a catchphrase. We all do things that put us at risk to help each other out. That's what family is all about."

We joined everyone back at the car and climbed in. Derek immediately got suspicious as the smell reached him.

"Why do I smell blood?" He asked.

Emma looked at me scared.

"Derek," I bumped him with my elbow like he needed to quiet down. "Lady problems."

Emma's face got dark red and she quickly turned back around.

I leaned against Derek tired and drifted off. He woke me up when we reached our destination of once again a motel parking lot.

"Come on," Derek said. "Let's get inside."

The sky was a grayish purple. The clouds had broken up just enough for us to be able to see the setting sun. A whole day in the car.

I sleepily grabbed my bag from the pile in the trunk and followed them inside to our room. Falling onto the first bed I saw and drifting back off to sleep. My neck was stiff from sleeping in the car so this bed felt like lying on the worlds softest cloud.


	69. That's what family is all about

The rest of the ride was not very eventful. When we were about an hour from wherever our Washington destination was, we stopped at a rest stop. There was no snow around here, just muck from the rain. Everything smelled like a muddy swamp.

"Hey," I said to Emma and Jeremy, motioning them to the side. "How are things going?"

Emma made eye contact with me which I counted as a positive sign for improvement.

"She's refusing to take my blood anymore," Jeremy said, shooting down my feeling that she was doing better.

"I can't risk hurting him," Emma said. "I lost control at the factory. I can't do that again."

I totally understood what she meant, how many times had one of us lost control or refused to do something because it put others in danger? It was practically a routine part of life now.

"So how are you getting blood?" I asked.

"She's not," Jeremy said annoyed.

This must have been an argument between them because they exchanged angry glances.

"Emma," I said softly, trying to keep things calm. "It's important for you to drink blood. Avoiding it is only putting Jeremy more at risk for getting hurt. The longer you starve the more control you will lose."

"Thank you," Jeremy threw up his arms.

"How did you get blood when you were imprisoned?" I asked her ignoring Jeremy.

She shrugged, "They either gave me bags or they let me take what was left over from their kills. I've lived on the bare minimum this far, I can keep it up."

I shook my head, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Emma, we are getting you some blood now."

"Now?" Her eyes widened in fear.

I took her hand, "Come with me to the bathroom."

We left Jeremy confused and concerned and walked up the sidewalk the rest of the way. We entered the rest area and as we were about to enter the women's restroom, Emma stopped me.

"I can't hurt a stranger," she said.

"I never planned on that," I guided her into the handicapped stall where we would have more space.

"Chloe," she figured it out.

I pulled my hair up into a quick ponytail and yanked down my shirt collar as best as I could.

"You need to hurry, we don't have much time."

"No," she shook her head. "I said no to Jeremy what makes you think I'll say yes to you? I can't hurt you guys."

"Please," I bordered on pleading. "I'll nap in the car and it'll be just fine. Besides, I'm a hybrid. I can handle a lot more than Jeremy can. You won't hurt me."

The women's restroom door opened and Liz's voice called out.

"Chloe? Emma? You in here?"

"Yeah," I answered. "Just give another minute please."

"Ok, but hurry up. Matt wants to hit the road."

The door shut and it was just the two of us again.

"Hurry up before I nick the skin and you can't help yourself," I said.

I wasn't serious, I wouldn't force Emma into drinking my blood. But she was so easily intimidated from her years of torture that she didn't realize I wouldn't really do it. She stepped closer and latched onto my neck. Reverting to being a well behaved captive momentarily.

I waited until my fingertips felt a little cold, at that point I knew she had taken a lot.

"Ok," I said and pushed her off of me.

Emma looked scared of what she had done, tears in the corners of her eyes, but her starvation was gone.

"Clean up. Quickly."

Emma rushed to the sink and started scrubbing her face. I gave healing a shot. I mean scars were kind of dead skin right? So wouldn't I be able to make scars? I had no idea if I was right but it was worth a shot. I imagined my magic stitching the cuts back together into scars and it worked. I came up to the mirror and the cuts were gone. I wiped off remaining blood with a wet paper towel.

Emma looked at me, "I want to hate you and thank you."

"What?" That definitely caught me off guard.

"I want to thank you for doing that for me, that was brave of you and indescribably helpful. But I also want to hate that you put your life in danger like that for me. You shouldn't do that. What if I lost it and you hadn't been able to push me off?"

I smiled at her and started walking towards the door as I threw my paper towel away.

"One thing you will learn if you stick around us, is that 'you shouldn't do that' is practically a catchphrase. We all do things that put us at risk to help each other out. That's what family is all about and you're a part of that now."

Emma was at a total loss for words.

We joined everyone back at the car and climbed in. Derek immediately got suspicious as the smell reached him.

"Why do I smell blood?" He asked.

Emma looked at me scared.

"Derek," I bumped him with my elbow like he needed to quiet down. "Lady problems."

Derek immediately dropped it. Emma's face got dark red and she quickly turned back around.

I leaned against Derek tired and cold and drifted off. He woke me up when we reached our destination of once again a motel parking lot.

"Come on," Derek said. "Let's get inside."

The sky was a grayish purple. The clouds had broken up just enough for us to be able to see the setting sun. A whole day in the car.

I sleepily grabbed my bag from the pile in the trunk and followed them inside to our room. Falling onto the first bed I saw and drifting back off to sleep. My neck was stiff from sleeping in the car so this bed felt like lying on the worlds softest cloud.


	70. Chapter 70

I slept straight through the night and woke in the morning to people talking.

"We can try to reverse it," Simon said.

"Do we know if that's even possible?" Derek asked.

I stretched and sat up as Matt interrupted their conversation.

"Would you two take it in the hall? You're waking people up."

"Sorry," Derek saw me sitting up.

I brushed it off, "What're you two arguing about now?"

Simon shook his head, "We aren't arguing, we are trying to figure out a way for my magic to get fixed."

I saw that Simon was twitching a little, the spells in the car hadn't helped for long. Simon saw me watching and pulled on his jacket to hide it.

"Do you think we can reverse the spell he and Tori did?" Derek asked Matt.

Matt shrugged, "It's quite possible actually. Almost all spells can be undone in one way or another."

"Let's try that then," Simon nodded satisfied with having a solution.

"And what if it doesn't work?" Derek questioned.

"Then we figure it out when it comes to that," Simon said.

Derek rolled his eyes not liking that answer but he let it go, having a preliminary plan was good enough for now.

"So where are we in Washington?" I asked as I grabbed my bag searching for clothes to change into.

"We aren't in any specific town actually," Matt said. "We're on a special assignment. Up the road is national protected land. Some vampires have taken to it as a home because people are generally not allowed on the land to protect the endangered species there."

"What's so wrong with them living among the endangered animals?" Derek asked.

"There isn't anything wrong with that necessarily, its that they are killing off the endangered animals."

"That sucks but they aren't hurting people," Simon didn't quite understand why we would be going after these vampires. I didn't either.

Matt sipped from a glass that had been in his hand that I didn't notice until now. Was that whiskey?

"Which is why I said it's a special assignment," Matt said. "The park rangers want them gone and hired us to take care of it."

"So we're hitmen?" I joked.

Matt chuckled, "I guess you could say so."

"Wait, how do these rangers know about us and vampires and all that?" Simon asked.

"They don't know about us, they just know that they reached out to a supernatural contact that would send someone to take care of it. As for how they know about them being vampires, I have no clue and that is not my business."

I glanced over at Emma as Matt took another sip of his drink.

"Matt, do all vampires need to be killed?" I asked.

Matt hesitated before answering.

**Matt's POV**

"Matt, do all vampires need to be killed?" Chloe asked me.

The answer yes jumped quickly to my lips but I couldn't say that. Because not all of them deserved to die. It didn't matter that I had been a vampire hunter for a century or so, I had a soft spot I couldn't help. If I said yes, what kind of father was I? Chloe didn't deserve to die when she had some vampire in her. And Lydia…

"That's a complicated question," was my response. I quickly took a big drink from my whiskey. Taking the edge off of my nerves.

**Chloe's POV**

Matt didn't really answer my question but by the way he quickly finished his glass, I could tell something was bothering him and decided not to push it any further. It was a good enough answer to make me feel like he wouldn't hurt Emma. He would hear her out first. I wondered though if he already knew and was waiting for me to come clean.

"Why don't you three go down to breakfast?" Matt suggested. "They have all you can eat breakfast here."

I brightened hearing that, a continental breakfast sounded perfect. I grabbed the clothes from my bag and went to the bathroom to get dressed. I had chosen one of my few pairs of jeans that weren't blood stained or torn and a dark purple sweatshirt. Threw on my tennis shoes and went down to the breakfast with the boys.

After eating fast food and from vending machines for so long, this spread looked amazing. Bagels, english muffins, cereals, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruit, waffles, and I could keep going. My mouth watered and so did the boys. As soon as we picked up our plates it was as if someone pressed go, we piled as much food on our plates as we could as quickly as we could.

Derek chose a table in the corner of the room so we could see anything coming. I wanted to ask what would happen to us in a motel dining area but I kept my mouth shut. One by one the rest of the group came down and joined us for breakfast. The only one who didn't come down was Matt.

"Does Matt look ok to you?" I asked Jeremy. He and Emma were the last two to come down.

Jeremy shrugged, "If ok means a little bit drunk."

I frowned, what was bothering him enough to get drunk? I don't think I had ever seen him drink before.

**Sorry that this one is a bit short, I'm a little limited on time today but still wanted to put something out there. I want to hear what you are thinking! What do you think has Matt so stressed?**


	71. Whiskey Secrets

"I'm not complaining," I said as I cut up another waffle. "But why did Matt splurge on this nicer motel?"

I got raised eyebrows in response.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you know what tomorrow is?" Simon asked me.

I shook my head, "It's a Tuesday isn't it?"

"What else?" Simon asked.

I shrugged.

"Oh my god," Tori rolled her eyes. "I cannot believe this. Matt made sure we all knew but _you _forgot."

I looked to Derek for help, what was I forgetting?

"What's tomorrows date?" Derek asked me.

I honestly didn't know off the top of my head so I tapped my phone screen to look. I nearly choked on my forkful of waffle. Tomorrow was my birthday.

"I think she remembers now," Kyle smiled.

"Please don't make a big deal out of it," I pleaded.

"Too late," Simon smiled.

Smiling, I sighed and shook my head, I was not the fan of being the center of attention and it looked like I was about to not have a choice.

I tried to divert the conversation from me while I could.

"Is anyone else done eating? I'm going to head back to the room."

Kyle said he would come back with me, the rest wanted to keep eating. Derek gave me an apologetic glance as I got up from my chair. He probably tried to talk them out of making tomorrow a big deal. I gave him a smile before Kyle and I walked our dishes to the dirty dish bin.

"We still need to tell Matt about Emma," Kyle said as soon as we exited the dining area.

"I don't-"

"Chloe he needs to know before she does something to one of us."

I stared down at the carpeting as we walked.

"Do you really think now is a good time? I don't think I've ever seen Matt drunk, especially in the morning."

Kyle swiped a card to unlock the door, "We'll see. Maybe he's one of those people that are more open to new ideas when they are drunk."

We stepped in. At first glance, one might think that no one was in the room and the television had just been left on. But Matt was on the floor in between the beds, cocooned in a blanket he pulled off of one of them. His eyes were fixed on the television, glass of whiskey in one hand, and his wallet in the other.

Kyle and I got on the bed to his right, watching him.

"How was breakfast?" Matt asked.

"Amazing," Kyle gushed.

"Matt why do you have your wallet out?" I tried to ask casually. "Did you order room service?"

I scooted further up the bed so I could see inside the wallet. In the ID slot was the picture of a young girl instead of his license.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Matt finished off his glass. Whoever she was, she had something to do with him being so down.

"Her name is Lydia," Matt said pouring himself another glass.

"Don't you think you've had enough? That bottles almost empty and its 11am."

Matt closed the wallet and let it fall from his hands.

"Who was she?" I asked, the picture looked old so I didn't think much of using 'was' at first.

"She is my daughter," Matt said softly. He turned so he was facing us and leaning against the opposite bed for support.

He said is. Kyle and I exchanged a look of surprise.

"You two don't talk anymore do you," Kyle spoke up after a minute of silence. "That's why we've never heard of her."

Matt shrugged.

"Why not give her a call? You obviously miss her."

"That picture was taken about…" he paused drunkenly thinking. "Ten years ago maybe."

"So? It doesn't matter how many years its been, I'd still love to talk to my dad if I could," I said.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kyle pull out his phone and text Simon that they shouldn't come up to the room for a while.

"I lost her in Washington," Matt's voice cracked like he might cry. He covered it up by taking a long drink.

"Lost her? But you said…"

The next thing he said broke my heart.

"She wanted to come on hunts so bad, I finally let her… I lost her to the vampires…"

The television was drowned out by the silence following Matt's confession. I had no idea what to say. That's why Matt answered me with 'its complicated.' Because he killed vampires for a living and his daughter was one of them. Matt probably thought it was his fault.

I finally broke the silence with, "I don't know what to say. Do you think we could find her?"

The question broke Matt out of his whiskey haze for a moment.

"No," he said sharply. "We do this job as quick as possible then we get the hell out of Washington. She would want nothing to do with me… just like her mother…"

"How do you know that she's still in Washington?" Kyle asked. "Or that-"

Kyle stopped himself from asking the second question but I had a feel I knew what it was. Or that she was even still alive.

I wondered why Matt took this job in Washington if he didn't want to be here but I wasn't about to ask that. Matt had drunkenly shared enough personal stuff. Right now was the time to help and comfort not pry for answers.


	72. Chapter 72

**Yeah this one is a bit of a shorter chapter (900ish words) but you'll see why. I can't not end on the sweet moments. Is that a spoiler alert? lol.**

**Ever heard the song Let Her go by Passenger? My roommate just played that as I was proofreading this chapter. Weird timing... maybe you'll see what I mean.**

By night, Matt had sobered up. He didn't want to but he had run out of whiskey. We sat around watching the Superman movies. I had been pressured to pick a movie so I picked what I hoped to be a crowd pleaser.

I swore a haze passed in front of me as I watched the screen, I blinked thinking it was my imagination.

"Chloe," Matt said to me.

"You saw that too?" I asked.

"It was a spell," Matt was pinching his nose trying to fight off a hangover headache. "I wanted to talk to you privately."

"So we're like in a soundproof bubble right now? They can't see that we're talking?"

Matt nodded, "Listen about earlier. You didn't tell the others did you?"

I shook my head, Kyle and I agreed that this information wasn't ours to spread.

"Thanks. I'm sorry, I never planned on you knowing about her. That sounds bad but I'm the authority figure, I shouldn't be dredging up my past."

"What're you going to do if we run into her?" I asked.

Matt looked at his empty whiskey bottle.

"That's why that bottles my best friend right now. I don't want to think about that. She's better off without me around. I should've never brought her into this life. I should've left her with her mom."

"Alcohol isn't going to fix it," I said to Matt. "You must want to find her at some subconscious level if you came here."

Matt chuckled weakly then flinched at the headache.

"She's in this nest isn't she?" I said softly. "There were no rangers, you just finally tracked her down."

Matt looked up at me, a tear in his eye. "You're too smart you know."

"Oh Matt," I sighed. "Oh no."

Matt's gaze returned to the empty bottle, trying to will it to refill.

"You can't just go walking into that nest," I said. "Let Emma and me go."

"Excuse me?" Matt didn't like the sound of that.

Without thinking it through first, I spoke.

"Emma and I have vampire in us that they can detect, we can get a lot closer than a famous vampire hunter."

"Emma what?" Matt shouted, he looked like he was going to be sick and I hoped that was from the hangover.

It was weird seeing no one react to shouting. They all watched the movie like nothing had happened.

"Sh-she w-was experimented on by the vampires. They f-figured out how to make her a hybrid."

Matt's parental side was returning.

"Chloe I'm going to kill you for not telling me this. Don't you think that's kind of important for me to know?!"

The shouting made Matt nearly throw up. His spell broke and he sped walked to the bathroom.

"Chloe? You alright?" Derek asked me wrapping an arm around me. "You're pale as a ghost."

I nodded, "Just ate too much today."

"Why don't we go walk it off?" Derek asked.

I nodded, "I'd like that."

He took my hand and told Simon we were going to go for a quick walk. We grabbed a key then stepped outside. Quietly, Derek lead me down the hall and out of the motel. We found a bench by the small park down the road and sat down.

"Ok what's up," I asked. "You've been awfully quiet."

He seemed a little nervous too.

"I just," he searched for the right words. "I haven't had a girlfriend before."

I nodded.

"So I don't really know how to do relationship birthday stuff," he continued.

"If this is about this morning, I appreciate your efforts to get them to tone it down."

Derek shook his head, "No… I uh got you something. I tried to keep it small since I didn't think you'd want gifts. But I'm not sure if its really what boyfriend gifts should be."

He pulled a small black box from his pocket.

"Sorry I couldn't wrap it either, it took forever to make and I ran out of time to wrap," he said placing it in my hand. He added, "Simon helped too."

My heart sped up. The box opened with a quick click. Inside laid a metal chain and a soft cloth surrounding it. With two fingers I picked up the chain and slowly lifted it from the cloth. Following the chain was a silver pendant, I lowered it into my hand and turned it over so I could see it. It was a detailed wolfs paw but not just any paw. It was Derek's paw. I don't know how I knew, I just knew. My breath was caught in my throat. It was beautiful. It didn't look handmade at all, there was so much detail.

"So?" Derek asked.

"Its perfect," I said.

I lunged into his arms, catching him by surprise. I hugged him with all of my strength and unsuccessfully tried fighting off happy tears. I physically couldn't express how much I loved it other than hugging him like he would disappear if I stopped.

"I love you," I said into his neck.


	73. Lydia

"I love you too," Derek said when I finally let go of him. "I didn't know if homemade gifts were appropriate."

"I can't believe you made this," I said. "How?"

Derek chuckled, "I may have cheated a little. It was about the size of my paw while I worked on it, Simon used magic to shrink it to a pendant when I was done."

I handed it to him and lifted my hair, Derek slipped it around my neck. My heart skipped a beat when the cool metal touched me.

"Happy birthday," he said.

We stayed outside for a while longer until it started raining. Everyone was sleeping by the time we came in the room.

Derek excused himself to shower, we were both pretty muddy. I sat down at the edge of my bed, looking at Emma. We could go to Lydia for Matt. We would get closer to the nest than anyone else. It might be stupid but it might work.

"Emma," I shook her shoulder.

She mumbled, "Hm?"

"I need your help with something," I whispered.

Emma sat up rubbing her eyes.

"Can it wait until morning?" She whispered back.

I shook my head, "We need to be back before morning."

"Back?" Caught her attention.

"I can explain on the way," I took her hand. "Please. It's too dangerous alone."

Emma's interest was peaked, she got up and grabbed her shoes. Quickly slipped them on and followed me out the door.

"Where are we going?" Emma asked.

I dangled Matt's keys from my finger.

"You and I are going to run an errand for Matt. There's someone he knows at that nest and we are going for him. A vampire hunter would never be able to get that close to the nest peacefully. But you and I can, we smell of vampire."

Anyone else would have questioned me, stopped me, but Emma was new to the group. She didn't think to stop me and tell the others.

"So we're going on a rescue mission," she said.

I nodded, "Pretty much."

Emma followed me out into the rain and to Matt's car.

"How do you know where this nest is?" She asked as she buckled.

"Matt said it was at the national park up the road, it can't be that hard to find."

I pulled the car from the parking spot and towards the road.

"I meant in the park," Emma said. "It's probably huge."

I shrugged, that's why we needed to be quick. The more time we spent wandering the park the more likely the others would catch up to us and ruin our chance to talk to Lydia.

I turned up the wipers as the rain continued pound the windshield. We drove for about seven minutes before I saw a dirt road leading into some woods.

"That's got to be it." I started to slow down.

Emma peered out the window, "I think you're right, there's a sign next to the road."

I pulled onto the dirt road as far as it would let us, a metal gate stopped us from going in very far. The sign that Emma saw said Restricted Land. Endangered Animal Reserve.

"Are you sure we should be doing this without the others," Emma asked as she got out.

I pulled my hood up to try to keep the rain from my eyes.

"It won't take long," I avoided answering her question.

We started walking down the dirt road, hugging the left side of it for the tree cover. The rain unfortunately washed away any scents that we would've been able to pick up on.

Ten minutes passed and the road gradually disappeared into the trees. We tried to stay in a straight line so we could find our way back but I had no idea if we were successful in our efforts.

Emma grabbed my shoulder, "Shh."

I stopped and tried to listen for what she heard. A splash behind us that was loud enough for me to know it wasn't just rain falling. I spun to barely catch a glimpse of something running by. Lightning and thunder flashed overhead. Emma grabbed my hand and backed up against a tree trunk.

Splash to our right. Something was circling us. I took a deep breath.

"Hello," I called out.

I swore I heard laughter to our left.

"Come on out," I called out again wiping water from my eyes.

Another flash of lightning showed a figure standing partially behind the next tree.

"Are you trying to tell me what to do?" They snapped, a woman's voice.

"No," Emma shook her head. "We came to talk."

The woman came out from behind the tree. She had short black hair soaked from the rain.

"Came to talk?" She laughed. "I take it you know what lives here."

We both nodded.

"Say it then."

"Vampires," I said. "We're hybrids."

Someone stepped into view to our right.

"Hybrids? Come to seek sanctuary with vampires," he said. "Seems fitting. Follow us."

"Roam," the woman scowled.

Roam rolled his eyes, "They're children how much harm can they do."

She turned and disappeared into the night.

"Come along," Roman shouted over the thunder.

Emma held on tight to my arm as we followed the vampire. I was nervous too, I didn't expect to run into a kind vampire. It didn't settle right with me.

We followed him for half a mile to a thickly wooded area, the storm continued but it was almost completely dry here.

"A spell?" I asked.

Roam shook his head, "Nope, just nature. The branches and leaves are very thick over this area."

"Roam," boomed a man as we stepped towards a bonfire. "You dare bring strangers here?"

Now this was closer to what I expected, angry vampires wanting to know why we were trespassing.

"They're hybrids," Roam pulled off his jacket and started wringing it out.

I noticed the woman was standing behind the angry vampire with a smug look.

"I don't give a damn what they are," he glared. "Why are you two here?"

Emma shrunk behind me.

"We came to speak to a vampire named Lydia," I said and pushed wet hair away from my face.

All three of them looked genuinely surprised.

Roam smiled, "I told you word would get out and people would come."

"What do you want with Lydia?" The woman asked suspiciously.

"Isn't that between her and us?" Emma countered from behind me.

The angry vampire turned and walked away without a word. The woman smelled the air.

"What kind of hybrids are you?"

"Excuse me?" I blinked.

"You heard me," she snarled.

"Vampire, werewolf, and necromancer," I said back casually. I did not want to seem like I was challenging her. Things were smooth sailing and I didn't want to mess that up.

"Abomination," she spat at me. "You will not be welcome here."

"Is that your call?" Roam defended us.

The variety of vampires here dumbfounded me, how did they function as a group if they fought this much?

"Ahem," said a female voice.

Roam turned around, identifying where the voice came from. I followed his gaze to a smaller woman. Hair pulled back into a braid and dressed in all black. She wore black jeans and a black tank top and nothing on her feet. A thin black rope was looped around her left wrist like a bracelet.

"Lydia?" Emma asked.

She nodded.

At the same time I felt a weight lift off my shoulders because we found her and a weight put on me because here came the really hard part.

"May we speak with you in private?" I asked.

She waved a hand and the woman and Roam dispersed. She came over to the fire moving gracefully.

"You wish to join the nest?" She questioned.

Lydia sat beside the fire. Emma and I followed her lead and sat down too.

"That's not why we are here actually," I said. "I'm here on the behalf of someone you used to know."

"Oh," her interest was peaked. She picked up what looked like an old coal and twirled it between her fingers. Eyes fixed on us. "What do they want?"

"They want to meet with you," I said. "But we came because they aren't sure you want to meet with them."

She nodded slowly, "Who would this be?"

I cleared my throat trying not to show my nerves. "Your father."

To my surprise Lydia had no reaction, that we could see at least. We sat in silence, the only sound was the rain and the crackling fire.

"Um-" I tried to break the silence.

"Why would I wish to see him?" Lydia asked.

"He wants to make amends," I replied. "Could you give him five minutes?"

Lydia chuckled, "I've made sure my nest stay put for lord knows how many years. Waiting for him to find me. Then word came a few years ago that Batman disappeared. He was underground. Or dead. But I guess he was just living happily with his new family."

The last sentence was spat out. Her expression became darker, angrier. The fire light flickered off her face adding to the intensity.

"No," Emma shook her head. "We aren't family."

Lydia slowly rose to her feet.

"You have two minutes to get off my land," Her eyes darkened and fangs started to appear.

Emma stood and pulled me to my feet.

"Chloe lets go."

I shook my head, "Lydia please. Hear what he has to say."

Lydia brought her fingers to her lips and whistled. Footsteps started our way.

"Chloe," Emma yanked my arm.

"Go," I pressed the car keys into her hand. "Get a head start."

The footsteps got louder, Emma turned and ran. I knew she wouldn't go far though. She cared about my safety too much. But she would be safer at a distance than standing right here.

An unsettling smile grew on Lydia's face when figures started appearing beside her. "I guess dear father didn't learn his lesson last time. You don't let your daughter work in the business."


	74. Fireside

**Meanwhile**

Derek towel dried his hair as he stepped out of the bathroom. He looked around for Chloe to tell her it was her turn but she wasn't in the room. Derek walked up to the beds, thinking maybe she was just covered by a blanket but Chloe wasn't here. And neither was Emma.

He shook Simon and Matt's shoulders.

"What?" Simon asked.

"Chloe and Emma are gone," Derek said.

They both looked around the room.

"Maybe they went outside for a bit," Simon suggested.

A crack of thunder and lightning cut Derek off from pointing out the rain. Derek turned to Matt who hadn't said anything yet. His face was in his hands.

"I have a good idea of where they are," he said lifting his head.

Derek stood up straight, "Well then let's go."

All the talking was starting to wake the others.

"What is going on?" Jeremy yawned.

"You're girlfriend is what's going on," Derek said. "She's taken Chloe somewhere."

"What?" Jeremy sat up.

Matt held up a hand to Derek, "No actually. Chloe's taken Emma with her."

Jeremy frantically looked around the room for the girls and grabbed for his shoes.

"Matt just tell us where they are," Simon tried to move things along.

Instead of getting up and moving like Derek wanted him to, Matt sank into his hands again. Rubbing his face before speaking.

"Chloe took Emma with her to the wildlife reserve nest since they are the only two that would be able to get close enough peacefully."

There were confused looks all around the room. Matt waved a hand and dismissed all the questions before they began.

"Let's get going before they get hurt," he stood.

Derek wanted to just jump in the car and go but as they walked outside, they noticed Matt's car was missing.

"Son of a-," Matt began. "We'll never make it there on foot in this weather."

Derek grabbed Jeremy by his shoulder and started walking towards the road.

"Hey!" Jeremy yelled not knowing why he was being dragged away.

"Derek, what're you doing?" Simon asked.

"I don't care about some rain," Derek said.

If it wasn't for a flash of lightning lighting up the parking lot, Derek and Jeremy would've seemed to walk off into the night. Matt followed after them.

"Let's go." He said, a worried look passed his face.

**Chloe's POV**

"I'm not his daughter," I repeated to Lydia. "We lived in a safe house together for a while."

Lydia snorted, "My father in a safe house? I find that hard to believe."

I looked at the newcomers, Lydia had to have ten vampires around her now. There was no way I was fighting my way out of this, I needed to try to talk my way through it.

"Lydia please, don't do this. Do you think killing me is teaching Matt a lesson? I'm just a foot soldier. He actually doesn't know that I'm here."

I must have said it convincing enough because there was a flash of hesitation in Lydia's eyes. Her fangs disappearing. She waved a hand and the vampires dispersed disappointed. I'm sure they weren't going far though.

The same smile grew on her lips, "This might be even better. Father's prized hybrid just disappearing never to be seen again. It's almost more torture than a dead body showing up on your doorsteps."

"The never knowing what really happened," I said softly.

"Precisely," she nodded. "Roam might have been right about you. You might be good to keep around. You seem smart."

She returned to her seat beside the fire. I followed her lead and sat back down. Just play along, I told myself.

"As for your runaway friend though," Lydia frowned. She did a much shorter whistle and pointed in the direction Emma had run in. Some footsteps started heading that way. "She seems like a liability."

I prayed that Emma was far enough away that she wouldn't need to fight.

"Now tell me the real story of how you were enslaved by my father," Lydia said.

Instinct told me to defend Matt, say I wasn't his slave. But I was in too delicate a situation for that. My mouth felt dry as I tried to come up with a convincing lie.

"Roam," Lydia shouted while maintaining eye contact with me. "Drinks."

Roam approached a moment later with two wine glasses full of blood. It smelled like an animal's blood though not human. One glass was handed to me, one to Lydia. She rolled her eyes impatiently.

"Take a sip or tell me the real story," she said.

I knew I shouldn't, there could be anything mixed in with the blood. I was not versed in picking out the smell of poison.

"We really did meet at a safe house," I said. "He broke us out when we complained of being bored. Told us that we would go on amazing adventures and see the world with him. Emma always looks to me to make decisions and I was too naïve to think he had an ulterior motive. I mean why would they protect a bad man in the same place as kids on the run?"

Lydia sipped her glass listening. I hadn't heard anything come from the woods while I spoke so maybe they hadn't got to Emma. Or maybe the rain was just drowning it out. Trying to hide my shaking hand, I brought the glass to my lips and drank.

**Derek's POV**

We had found Matt's car so we knew they were in the reserve somewhere.

"We need to split up and search," Matt said. "The storms taken any trace of scents they…"

Matt's voice disappeared and so did the storm. I could still hear it but it was quieter, farther away. Instead I heard…no wait I saw, a crackling fire in front of me. A girl sat across the fire watching me. I tried to get a better look at the girl but my gaze was primary focused on a glass in my small hands. It reeked of blood as it got closer and closer to my mouth.

"Derek?" Simon snapped me out of it.

I blinked and we were in the trees, when did we start walking?

"What?" I grunted.

"You had a vision thing didn't you," he saw right through me. "You saw what Chloe's seeing."

"What was it?!" Jeremy was on the other side of me.

I didn't want to answer, it made my stomach twist.

"Derek do not shut me out," Simon snapped at me.

I groaned, "She's fine. Alright? She's comfy and cozy sitting next to a fire out of the rain and drinking blood!"

I don't know if I'd ever seen Simon go pale like that.

"But," he stopped. "But Elijah didn't get rid of her vampirism he just severed the conscious link…"

"Yep," I growled and kept moving.


	75. Closing in

**Chloe's POV**

If I'm being honest, the sip took the edge off of my nerves and Lydia must have seen it.

"There we go," she said. "It must have been a long time for you. When is the last time you fed?"

I hesitated with how honest I should be here.

"Since before leaving with your father. The vampire part of my brain was severed so I would stop hurting people at the home. But vampires still seem to recognize my scent a little."

She smelled the air, "It's still in your scent. But that wet dog smell does cover it up some." She finished her glass and set it on the ground as she gracefully stood. "If you're going to be staying here I can't have a nonvampire hybrid. That just doesn't make sense and we really don't like raising eyebrows. Our nest prefers being off the radar as much as possible."

"W-what are you going to do to me?"

"Did you hear that?" Lydia's gaze lifted to the treetops.

I shook my head. Why wasn't she answering my question?

"Exactly. The storm is starting to roll away. There was no thunder after that lightning strike."

I hadn't even noticed that there had been a flash of lightning. I instinctively took another sip from the glass like it was any other drink.

"Can you please let my friend go?" I asked. "She doesn't deserve to die."

Lydia motioned with her finger that I was to stand too since she was standing.

"You need to learn what liability means," she said.

I stood, my pants were caked in half wet half dry mud. I didn't notice that I knocked over my glass as I tried to clean off my pants. It was a stupid thing to try to do but I didn't want to see her face right now. It made me picture the vampires catching up to Emma and hurting her.

"Don't bother," Lydia said annoyed. "We have clothing you can borrow."

**Derek's POV**

Angrily I walked along, not caring about the water in my eyes or the mud splashed up to my knees.

"Derek," Jeremy scrambled to keep up with me and Simon. "I don't think you should be looking for Chloe like this. You're too angry, someone's going to get hurt."

I spun around to him, Jeremy was shaking. Probably from the cold rain, I wasn't that scary.

"The only one who's going to get hurt is whoever stands in my way," I growled. "So shut your mouth and worry about your girlfriend."

I turned back to Simon and took maybe three strides before hearing a loud thud behind us. I groaned in frustration.

"If you can't keep up just say so," I turned expecting to see that Jeremy had tripped over a root.

He was on the ground, but Jeremy hadn't tripped. There was a figure on top of him that had dropped from the trees. She was wet or muddy from head to toe but it was Emma. Jeremy groaned as she frantically helped him up and pulled him into a hug.

"I can't believe you guys are here! They're trying to kill me!"

Simon quickly shushed her after hearing that.

"Keep your voice down then," he said. "No yelling."

Emma nodded obediently but there was a subtle glare in her eyes. She was not a fan of Simon telling her what to do.

"Who is they?" I asked.

"The vampires," Emma said. "Lydia made them go after me."

"Lydia?" We all asked.

Emma nodded, "Matt's daughter. She has quite the nest here."

Matt had a daughter that was a vampire nest leader?! And he just wasn't going to tell us about that after bringing us here!? It was a good thing he was searching with the others right now because I felt like hitting someone.

"Was she wearing all black by any chance?" I asked thinking back to the girl at the edge of Chloe's line of sight.

"Yes," she said.

"We need to move," I growled. "Emma which way is the fire?"

Emma looked bamboozled by how much information I had but pointed over my right shoulder.

"A ways off that way. I didn't want to leave her, I swear. She made me."

Jeremy rubbed her shoulder trying to reassure her, "It's ok you didn't do anything wrong."

"Didn't do anything wrong?" I echoed not having as much compassion for her mental state. "She should have been the one to talk Chloe out of this suicide mission."

Jeremy glared at me this time to my surprise.

"Derek why don't you leave society for a decade or two then come find me. I'll hold you to all the norms that you won't know exist."

Ok he had a point. But I wasn't going to admit that right now. I turned to Simon.

"Stay with these two, I'm going in for Chloe."

"No," Simon began to argue. "There's vampires all over these woods. We are not splitting up."

**Matt's POV**

I was speeding through the mud and the rain in the middle of the woods with two not dead ghosts and a witch. Trying to find a secret hybrid, a necromancer werewolf, and my daughter. This was the craziest night of my life.

I'm sure the kids were tired but my pace never slowed. Walking would take too long I jogged; or ran when I had enough solid footing.

"This place is a maze," Tori said. "We have no idea where we are. We could be running in circles. We don't even know what to be looking for."

Kyle shrugged, "Look for Chloe or Emma or anything with fangs."

Tori rolled her eyes, causing her to almost trip over a root that jutted up from the ground.

"They're vegetarian vampires," I said. "They only feed on animals and want to be at ease with nature. So don't look for buildings, look for wide open spaces or well traveled footpaths."

I was surprised at my ability to talk and move without huffing. My adrenaline was higher than I thought. That should've been expected though, I thought. I was about to come face to face with my daughter who's life I ruined. That nest took off with her so fast I never got to say goodbye or that I was sorry. The echo of her screams rang in my ears.


	76. Family Reunion

**Derek's POV**

I had to slow down so Jeremy and Emma could keep up. I kept to my thoughts as we traveled. I wanted to be mad at Chloe, we were here on a rescue mission and she was just sitting around a fire? But I knew that wasn't fair. She didn't know we were here and is it really a rescue mission if they don't need rescuing? Was that a fair thought though, I didn't hear the conversation she was having with the new girl. Maybe Chloe was not being allowed to leave. But then why would they give her something to drink like a host would?

My head spun with questions, trying to figure out what was going on and how to feel about it.

The rain around us started to slow, partially because we were heading into thicker woods and partially because the storm was dissipating. I lifted my head trying to catch a scent of Emma or Chloe having passed through here.

"Does this look familiar?" Simon asked Emma.

She shrugged uncertain, "Maybe? I was running so fast I didn't really look around."

"It has to be the right way," Jeremy pitched in. "Derek said they were sitting beside a fire out of the rain and we are in a thicker wooded area which means dry ground."

"Keep voices down then," I said. "The closer we get the more vampires we potentially run into."

We hadn't walked for five minutes before I caught the smell of a bonfire. I nodded in the direction.

"You guys stay back, I'll move in closer to get a look."

Sending one of us to scout was a better idea than four of us. It would be easier to maneuver and hide.

Jeremy shook his head, "I'm smaller than you, I could get closer."

I waved him forward, not wanting to argue. Jeremy squeezed Emma's hand one last time then stepped forward, following the smell of the fire. We crouched down beside a tree.

**Jeremy's POV**

I had to say I was surprised that Derek let me do the scouting, he was usually such a control freak. He must have a lot on his mind with Chloe running off without him.

As I followed the smell of the fire, I watched my footing. The ground was flattened, well traveled on dirt, but there still were the occasional sticks and branches. If I stepped on one and broke it, I would be given away instantly.

I rolled my right shoulder trying to loosen up the muscles, it was freezing walking around in wet clothing and my muscles didn't do great in the cold. Once I could see the fire and hear them, I crouched behind a tree and watched. Chloe stood on one side of the fire, another girl on the other side. Supposedly Lydia, Matt's long lost daughter.

"Care for another?" Lydia asked.

Chloe looked down at a glass that was knocked over.

"I'm fine thank you," Chloe said taking a moment to answer.

Chloe moved closer to the fire for warmth. Lydia's voice was strangely hypnotic. It was strong and in command but still soft and even. As I watched, I noticed her body movement was the same way. In charge but smooth.

"But it relaxes you so much," she said. "You've been starving for so long. Just one more."

A hand gripped my shoulder and my mouth at the same time. Preventing a yelp from escaping me. It was Matt, I had been so focused I hadn't heard him coming. Great job Jeremy, way to scout ahead.

Matt let go of me and pressed an index finger to his lips. I looked around for the others but Matt seemed to be alone. He waved dismissively, now was not the time for questions, then crouched beside me. I could hear his heart racing.

"Lawrence," Lydia's voice was raised for only one word before it returned to its hypnotic state.

A man approached the fire, his expression was covered by the shadow from his hood. There were vampires lingering in these woods, we might be being watched right now.

"Refill our glasses please," she said. "Our new friend is _starving_."

He picked up the glasses from the ground and disappeared off to a clearing to the left. It was too dark to see what was over there. Lawrence returned a minute later with glasses and handed them to the girls. Lydia never said a word while she waited for her glass.

She gracefully lowered herself back to the ground. Lawrence and Chloe sat too. The new vampires presence made Chloe uneasy. She swayed, tried to move over and create some distance. Chloe sat facing us, Lydia's back was to us, and Lawrence was to the left.

"Why do we keep standing and sitting?" Chloe asked slowly.

"Exercise," Lydia answered. "We need that blood getting into your system, don't we? And its far too muddy for a walk."

Matt looked at me and mouthed 'blood' with worry as Chloe drank from the glass. He stood. No no no we were not ready to intervene! All they were doing was talking!

Matt stepped away from the tree and started walking towards the fire. Making no attempt to stay quiet. I scrambled after him.

Lydia and Lawrence shot to their feet and faced us, Chloe was on her feet too but not by choice. Lawrence had yanked her to her feet, one hand around her waist and one in her hair.

"Well well well," Lydia smiled. "I figured you would come for your new lapdog father. But not so soon."

"Lydia," Matt stepped forward. A crack in his voice. "Sweetheart I'm so sorry."

She rolled her eyes.

"Sure you are, that's why it took you a decade to find me."

"Chloe's done nothing wrong. Let her go sweetheart. This is between you and me."

I looked at Chloe trying to figure out a Derek-like plan. How could I get her away from this man? Then I noticed she wasn't struggling against him. The blood must have been laced, she just stared down Lydia and Matt like she was watching a video without audio, trying to figure out what was going on.

Lydia put her fingers under her chin and tilted her head, "Hmm no."

Matt stepped closer again, I followed. Lydia looked to Lawrence and Lawrence yanked Chloe's head back exposing her neck. She let out a gasp of pain from the sudden movement. His fangs crept out hungrily towards her throat.

"No," Matt had to stop it from coming out as a yell.

"Don't come any closer and nothing will happen to your precious hybrid," Lydia turned back to us. "Though I don't know if I can make the same promise with your other pet. She's hopefully dead by now."

Matt's feet stayed planted.

"Why are you doing this?" He begged. "Hurt me not her."

Lydia examined her nails while responding, "I'd rather hurt both of you."

Footsteps behind us. Lydia looked up.

"Now that's either your reinforcements or you're about to be in some deep trouble Batman." She smelled the air. "Want to take a guess?"

I don't know if Matt knew who it was but I caught Derek's scent. He was done waiting on me to report back.

**Chloe's POV**

I yawned and asked Lydia why we kept standing and sitting. Thinking maybe it was a respect thing among their nest. Things went hazy I never heard an answer. Wow was I falling asleep? I didn't think I was _that_ tired. Then I saw a full glass was at my lips again. No, I told myself. Stop its got to be drugged. But my hand moved automatically. I faded back to black.

I felt sick as the world gave out from underneath me, I'd never been a fan of that feeling you get in your stomach on rollercoasters, I thought I had just fallen down. But I was looking at two faces instead. I tried to make out what they were saying but the high pitched ringing in my ears drowned them out.

A sharp yank of my neck, I think I cried out but I heard nothing but the ringing. Fade to black. Focus Chloe focus no one's here to help you. You sent Emma away with the car, she's probably back at the motel getting the others. You need to focus so you can try to get out of this.

Suddenly there was searing white hot pain spreading through my neck, I know I cried out this time. I could hear it over the ringing. My breath was knocked out of me cutting the cry short.

"It'll be ok, it'll be ok, it-" a dark figure knelt over me.


	77. Death and Repair

**Simon's POV**

Matt had found us and left Tori, Liz, and Kyle with us. He told us to stay together and ran off. A few minutes after, Derek took off too.

I hated that we had to stay back just because we didn't have the superhuman senses but going up against these vampires I guess it made sense.

I wasn't going to wait long though, three minutes tops. And if Derek had a problem with that he could suck it up because that's exactly what he just did to Jeremy and Matt.

"Let's get closer," I said. "I don't like not knowing what's going on."

Our timing as always was impeccable. As everyone starting moving closer, Liz dropped to the ground without warning.

"Liz!" Tori shouted.

A dark shadow passed over her neck, I quickly turned my phone screen on to give us light. The shadow was blood. Tori shook her trying to wake her up. I looked around trying to see what could have hit her.

"Simon!" Derek's voice echoed.

"Heal her quickly," I told Tori, handing her my phone for light then turned to Kyle and Emma, "Watch Tori's back, stay quiet."

"Simon!" Derek yelled again.

I raced off toward Derek's voice, stumbling upon a scene that baffled me. The only two people here were Derek and Jeremy and a body they crouched over. No Matt, no Lydia, nobody else. I ran over to see who was on the ground.

It was Chloe and she had blood streaming from her neck just like Liz. Before I had time to connect the dots, panic set in.

"Chloe!"

"I can't stop it," Derek panicked too, his hands were pressed hard against the wound. "Do something. Heal her. Please."

"You need to let go of her first," I knelt down. "I can't heal the wound if you're hiding it from me."

I positioned my hands above Derek's and we quickly switched. Though it seemed that pressing hands against the wound wasn't doing anything to stop the bleeding. I quickly summoned magic trying to heal it. The skin began to stitch itself together.

I continued to focus on healing but I had to ask, "Where is everyone? We should be swarmed by vampires right now."

"Later," Derek growled as Jeremy opened his mouth. I took that as we weren't in any immediate danger of them appearing. "How is she?"

I wiped away some blood as I lifted my hands, there was no wound anymore.

"She really needs to go to a hospital," I said.

Derek put his arms under her and lifted up. I knew her hair was soaked with blood but it shouldn't be dripping that much.

"Derek," I said.

He followed my gaze down, "It's back. Simon fix it!"

I quickly put a hand back on her neck and summoned healing magic to close the wound.

"I'm going to have to keep doing this," I figured. "What hurt her?"

Jeremy answered, "One of the vampires bit her."

Well that didn't explain why a wound would magically reopen itself. Vampires don't have magic.

"Liz got hurt too, we need to get back to the others," I said. "Give me Chloe, I'm going to have to keep healing her."

Derek passed her to me and we headed back to the others. It wasn't easy trying to navigate the woods without tripping and keep the bite healed. I could see Derek's shoulder's twitching from the panic.

"You're trying not to change," I said. "Derek what happened back there?"

Derek didn't answer me, just kept watching Chloe worriedly. Verging on hyperventilating. I glanced over at Jeremy.

"Chloe got hurt because Matt came up, so Matt agreed to work things out with Lydia somewhere private as long as they left us alone. I bet they're still watching us but they won't do anything unless she says so. They're a very loyal nest."

By the time Jeremy was finished, we were back at the others and things weren't looking good here either. Liz still laid on the ground and Tori was sobbing beside her. I looked to Kyle for answers, why weren't they still trying to help Liz? Why wasn't she awake?

Kyle just looked away. My heart sank, she was only healing when Chloe was.

Tori shot to her feet. "This is her fault!" She screamed towards Chloe. "Liz was here because she was here! And now she's hurt because of their link!"

"Stop," Jeremy got in between Tori and me/Chloe. "We need to get out of here first, then you can throw all the fits you want."

I turned to where Derek had been standing to ask him to grab Liz and he was gone. Seeing Liz in such bad shape must have pushed him over the changing edge because that meant that even if it were just for a second, Chloe must have died.

**Matt's POV**

I was worried sick about Chloe, I had to keep reminding myself that Derek was capable of helping her. She would be fine.

Lydia snapped her fingers, getting my attention back on her. We stood in the remains of a ranger station. With no one else around, her whole demeanor had changed. She no longer stood rigid like an authority figure. Now she stood across from me with her arms crossed.

"Thank you for giving me the chance to talk," I started.

Lydia checked a nonexistent watch, "You better talk fast, your puppy doesn't have much time."

"She'll be ok as long as your nest keeps their word about leaving them alone," I said.

Lydia waved dismissively at the topic, wanting me to get to the point of what I needed to say.

"I couldn't find you after the attack," I said. "Believe me, I tried. I poured every resource, every contact, every favor, into trying to find you. But they moved around too much too fast. Whenever I would get a lead on a location, they had already left that spot months beforehand."

"Why'd you stop?" She asked.

I was finally getting the conversation with her that I always wanted. But why did it have to happen at Chloe's expense?

"I never did," I said honestly. "They were just too good at hiding you. The only thing that I ever knew for sure was that you were alive because I almost caught up a few times."

I knew the next words before she even said them.

"I wished that I was dead," she said. "You have no idea what I went through."

I wanted to come up to her and hug her but I hesitated, no idea how she would react to that.

"You're right," I nodded. "And you have no idea what I went through Lydia. I tried to find you for ten years. I haven't spoken to your mother in nine years. She hates me almost as much as I hate me. I can't undo what's happened, I know that. I didn't spend all these years to try to do that. I just want you back, human vampire I don't care. I need my daughter back. I need to know you're ok and you're safe."

She just watched me, not saying a word.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I never meant for you to get hurt."

I knew this wasn't going to be one of those scenes where she comes rushing into my arms saying she forgives me and everything would be ok. But a small part of me still wanted that to happen.

Finally she spoke, "I can't say I forgive you. But I can say it's okay. Maybe I was meant for this life, I mean I forced my way to the top of a nest and bettered our lives. We leave people alone and they leave us alone. Most leaders are feared, I'm respected."

I gave a small smile, "I always dreamed you were destined for great things."

And that finally gave me my answer on why she did what she did when I showed up. She had to keep up appearances for her nest. Showing sympathy to her past was a sign of weakness. I didn't agree with it but I understood it.

"What now?" Lydia asked. "I'm not leaving my nest. It's the only place I belong."

I shrugged, honestly I had been so focused for so long on getting to this point that I hadn't thought much past it.

"I won't try to take you away. Just… could you give me a call once a year? Just let your old man know you're still ok? Maybe your mom too."

Lydia nodded and I swore I saw a smile for a second.

"Here," she held something out to me.

I stepped forward and took it from her hand, it was a small glass vial with a black liquid inside.

"What is this?"

"An antidote. I was going to give it to the hybrid eventually but she'll really need it now. Any injuries sustained while the poison is in her body do not heal. It might be too late already with that bite unless you've got a witch up your sleeve."

"Thank you," was all I could manage to say.

I blinked and Lydia had vanished into the air.


	78. Chapter 78

**That wasn't originally part of the plan when I had them do that spell all that time ago. But I thought it was a way to keep Tori and Liz involved in the story since they've taken a bit of a backseat lately. I would say that its only for life threatening injuries, if it were for every scrape and bruise that would be miserable. I haven't decided yet if Lydia will continue to play a part in the story. We shall see.**

**Chloe's POV**

The sound of a rhythmic beep pulled me out of sleep, I reached around trying to find the alarm clock but my hand hit a plastic bar. I opened my eyes, seeing that it was a railing on the side of the bed.

"Hey," someone said softly.

I looked up from the railing and saw Simon.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"A hospital," Simon answered.

I coughed as I looked around the room, my throat was bone dry. Simon handed me a cup of water, he sat in a chair he pulled up next to the bed; against the wall behind him was more chairs but they were empty except for some coats. To my other side was a cloth wall preventing me from seeing the rest of the room. The beeping came from a monitor between the bed and cloth wall.

"I don't know if I should ask why or where everyone is, first," I squirmed at the sight of the IV in my hand when I sat up and sipped the water.

"Derek and Matt left maybe ten minutes ago to get food from the cafeteria," Simon said. "Kyle and Tori are taking care of Liz back at the motel. Jeremy and Emma have been off doing something, I don't know. And why you're here is because you practically died. You were poisoned and injured. Chloe, you lost like half your blood."

I wondered if there were patients on the other side of the cloth wall, Simon had been careful not to say vampire or bite.

Simon reached up and took the styrofoam cup from me and set it back on a small table.

"Taking care of Liz?" I asked.

Simon lowered his voice, "She got your injury, she'll be fine though."

I didn't know what to respond to that with, I just felt a knot of guilt in my stomach. My fingers grazed the bandage on my neck. Simon went to stand and my hand jumped out and grabbed his.

"Don't go."

Simon could see the pleading in my eyes. How badly I didn't want to be left alone. He lowered himself back into the chair.

"Don't you want to see Derek? I was just going to go get him."

"He probably needs to eat," I said.

Without letting go of his hand I moved over and pulled him. Trying to get him to sit on the bed with me. Simon was hesitant at first but he knew how persistent I could be so he sat beside me on the bed. I pushed the pillows behind him and curled up, head on his chest. Simon put an arm around me allowing me to lay against him more. I could smell Derek on his shirt.

"You ok Chloe?" He asked.

I nodded and yawned.

"You can go back to sleep," Simon said.

I shook my head, "Derek will be back soon."

"And he'd understand," Simon said. "You need rest."

"I'm fine," I argued.

Simon rolled his eyes, "Chloe no you are not, you were poisoned and had part of your neck ripped open by vampires."

He must have been able to see the panic in my eyes as I looked at the cloth wall.

"There's no one on the other side of the curtain," Simon said. "They checked out a few hours ago. Relax we-" He stopped himself.

"We what?" I asked.

"Don't tell Derek I told you," Simon started. "I was going to say relax we don't need another werewolf changing in a human hospital. It's not that easy to hide."

"Don't say that, the bathroom was a good enough hiding place," Derek came into the room.

Matt walked in behind him and shut the door. Both were carrying trays of food. Derek set his down on the seat of a chair and came around to my side of the bed. He pulled me up into a hug and just held me there.

"Let her down before she breaks her back," Simon smiled.

Derek let me go and it clicked where Simon was sitting.

"I shouldn't read into this, right?"

Simon and I shook our heads.

"Just trying to make her feel at ease," Simon said.

Derek pulled the chair and tray up to my side. While he did, I watched Matt. He stood with his tray still in his hand watching me back, his expression hard to decipher.

"What happened with Lydia?" I asked him.

Matt's unknown expression relaxed and softened, he walked up to the foot of the bed. It couldn't quite be described as happy but it was at least happier than the look he came in with.

"She's with her nest still, we aren't going to harm them."

I was honestly shocked, I expected to hear about some big brawl between the two groups and Lydia having to go on the run from her father with surviving vampires.

"After you got hurt, I got her to agree to some terms. I'd talk to her privately and the nest would leave you guys alone so they could get you help."

"How did the talk go? Did you get to say what you needed to?"

Matt nodded, glancing at the boys. I guessed he probably hadn't told them everything still.

Derek interrupted nudging his tray towards me, "Eat something. You too Simon."

Simon rolled his eyes but took the apple and milk. I shook my head.

"I'm not hungry, thank you though."

"Even if you're not hungry, you still should eat," Matt agreed with Derek. "You lost a lot of blood."

I knew they wouldn't quit so I took the little bowl of fruit.

"When can we go back?" I nearly said go home but I didn't have a home, just a motel bed.

Simon bumped the call button and a nurse came in the door.

"Well how long have you been up?" She smiled.

I shrugged. She shooed the guys out of the room so she could look me over. Derek tried to insist on staying but she wouldn't allow it.

"This will only take a minute," she said as she put on a new pair of gloves.

She checked my temperature then my blood pressure. She shined a light in my eyes and took the IV from my hand. She asked me generalized questions to make sure I didn't have a concussion. Then she had me lay down and as gently as she could, she pulled the bandage off my neck, telling me it needed to be changed. She wiped down my neck with something that burned when it got too close to the stitches. She saw my eyes watering and apologized and quickly put a fresh bandage over it.

When it was all done I asked, "So what's the verdict?"

"You seem to be coming along nicely," She said while scribbling away on a clipboard. "You show no signs of trauma from the animal attack which is fantastic news. Lots of people who get hurt like that have permanent muscle damage."

"Can I go home then?" I asked.

She bit her lip, thinking about the way to phrase her answer.

"We would prefer you stayed another day so we can make sure there's no damage and so we can take the stitches out. We really don't like people doing it on their own, especially in such a delicate area. But legally we can't make you stay if you don't want to."

I didn't want to stay, I wanted to go back to the motel and curl up in bed. But it probably wasn't up to me, Matt would make the official call.

The nurse got all the information on her clipboard that she needed and left my room, allowing the guys back in. As they did I sat back up, just now becoming painfully aware that I was in a hospital gown and nothing else. I quickly crossed my arms to cover my chest.

"So?" I asked Matt. "Can we go?"

Matt nodded, "You got the all clear and that's what matters. Simon's healing spells were good but I needed to make sure you were going to be ok. No offense Simon."

Simon smiled and shrugged, "None taken, I would've done the same."


	79. Chapter 79

**I guess I should've began the last chapter with how they brought her to the hospital. I'll do a quick flashback with this chapter to explain. I would say that the hospital staff are careful enough not to get people's blood on them so I didn't think about her werewolf blood touching the humans. Lets just say they were careful enough and no one got infected. Though now that I think about it, she probably would have gotten a blood transfusion or whatever its called. So I wonder if she would be impacted by having human blood in her?**

**Earlier (Jeremy's POV)**

Matt appeared at the car right as we were arriving.

"How is she?" He rushed over to Simon.

"Somethings wrong, she won't heal," Simon said.

Matt waved for us to start getting in the car He produced a small glass vial and opened it, then poured the contents into Chloe's mouth before anyone could say anything. Derek, who was in wolf form beside Simon, growled.

"What was that?" I asked.

Matt, Chloe, and Simon took up the front row, the rest of us were in the back rows. Matt threw the car in drive and started speeding down the road.

"That was an antidote for the poison she had in her system," Matt said. He took a deep breath trying to remain steady as he started giving instructions. "Ok, she needs a hospital after losing that much blood. But we can't show up without wounds. So this is going to sound bad but bear with me. Simon the wound shouldn't reopen again, heal her. That'll buy us time to get to the hospital. Once we are there, Emma," he paused and looked into the rear view mirror at Emma to make sure she was paying attention. "I'm going to need you to re-bite Chloe so she has an injury. I know that sounds bad but we can't make it to the hospital with the one she has and we can't show up without one. Can you do that Emma?"

Simon healed. Emma nodded hesitantly. Derek growled. Tori wasn't even paying attention, she was holding the unconscious Liz and crying softly.

"Why Emma?" I asked. He was right that it sounded bad but made sense. But why her?

"Because I know Derek won't hurt Chloe and Emma can't be effected by her werewolf blood."

Well that would have left him the choice between Emma and myself because we were both werewolves. So he must have found out that Emma had some vampire in her to single her out.

Matt must have been flying down the road because we reached an ER in less than ten minutes probably. I grabbed Emma's shoulder before she did anything to Chloe.

"What's our story?" I asked Matt. "We can't just go in with a bite victim and no story."

Matt looked around at how we were all covered in mud.

"We're from out of town, we went on a camping trip not knowing the bad weather was coming, she got attacked by an animal but we didn't see it because of the rain."

**Now (Chloe's POV)**

I changed into fresh clothes that the boys had brought from the motel and we were good to leave. As we exited the hospital doors, I spotted Emma and Jeremy sitting on the trunk of the car. Jeremy's face lit up seeing us approach.

"You do know you were allowed inside?" Derek asked.

Jeremy nodded, "I just needed fresh air." He got off the trunk. "Matt, is it ok if I talk to Chloe privately before we hit the road?"

Matt raised an eyebrow, "I think that's a question for Chloe not me."

He shrugged and nodded, "I just didn't know if we were in a hurry at all."

I followed Jeremy a row of cars over, he was trying to get out of Derek's hearing range.

"What?" I asked.

Jeremy shifted back and forth on his feet, hands trying to find somewhere natural to stay. He finally settled them in loose fists in his jacket pockets.

"Chloe, I…"

I waited for him to be able to figure out what he wanted to say.

"You… changed fairly soon right? Compared to normal werewolves?"

I nodded.

"How did you know it was coming?" He asked, trying his best to make eye contact with me but his eyes kept darting everywhere else. "Because I think it might be happening to me already. My muscles ached when we went looking for you and I thought it was because of how cold it was in the rain. But the aches haven't stopped. I'm… scared…."

I was speechless to be honest. I hadn't really thought about Jeremy having to go through changing.

"I haven't done it as much as Derek or Emma," I said. "You'd get better answers from them."

He shook his head fast.

"Emma has enough on her plate already, I'm supposed to be helping her not the other way around."

I wanted to ask what was 'on her plate' but this wasn't the time.

"What's wrong with asking Derek? He's given you werewolf advice before."

"You never ask the Alpha for favors this big," Jeremy said.

I didn't quite understand but I wasn't going to argue.

"You might just be a little sick from being out in the rain for so long," I said. "But if that's really what's going on, of course I'll help as best I can."

Jeremy's shoulders relaxed, he took his hands from his pockets and pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you," his whispered. Head resting on my shoulder.

I gave him a squeeze and said, "Come on, let's go back to the others."

We walked back and got into the car where everyone was waiting. I got a raised eyebrow from Derek and returned it with a polite smile. I was definitely going to need Derek's help if this was really happening to Jeremy but I wasn't going to announce it in front of everyone. Jeremy was scared and trusted me, I wasn't going to violate that.


	80. Chapter 80

We arrived at the motel and Matt started gathering everyone up to talk.

"Hey," Simon gently grabbed my arm and pulled me aside by the bathroom. He put an envelope in my hand. "I know it's not much but happy late birthday. Open it later."

I smiled a thanks and slid it inside my jacket pocket before we walked over and sat down on the beds with everyone.

"I don't want to leave here just yet," Matt began. "We need time to get our bearings."

"Where will we be headed next?" Kyle asked.

"How does Canada sound?" Matt half smiled. "An old friend reached out, they need some help."

We all smiled and high fived, going out of the country would be fun.

"First though," Matt looked at Tori and Simon. "You two need to undo your spell. I know Simon did a lot of magic to keep Chloe and Liz alive so you would probably be 'good' for a while. But I don't want us to have to worry about any more mishaps."

Matt seemed perfectly normal talking to Simon, I wondered if Simon's helping Liz and I was redeeming him in Matt's eyes.

They both nodded, Simon didn't mind going back to his old power level. He proved good with his hands in a fight. And I think he was sick of worrying about the magic building up.

"What else is there to do?" Derek asked.

Matt looked to me and Emma, "I need to have a little chat with you two."

Emma looked at me nervously, we knew this was probably not about running off to Lydia. It was probably because he knew about Emma's vampirism now. I tried to give her a reassuring smile but I'm not sure how convincing it was.

"I think they've been punished enough for going to the nest," Derek said.

Matt nodded, "I agree. This has little to do with that and I'd appreciate it being a private conversation Derek."

Emma shifted uncomfortably.

Derek looked at me trying to figure out what wasn't being said. Matt stood and fixed the cuffs of his sleeves.

"Why don't we talk in the hallway now while the rest of you figure out how to undo the spell."

Simon raised an eyebrow, "I thought you said you knew how to do it."

Matt nodded, "I want this to be a learning experience, go through Tori's spell book and see if you can figure it out first."

Tori started digging through her bag to get the book out and Emma and I were ushered out of the motel room. Derek and Jeremy stood to follow but whatever Matt's expression was, it made them sit back down.

A semi-familiar haze passed by the corner of my eye.

"You did the privacy bubble thing didn't you?" I asked.

Matt nodded, arms crossed.

"Privacy bubble?" Emma asked, she looked up at me when she spoke but then her eyes went straight back to the floor. Matt's disapproving look was making her anxious.

"He has a spell where no one else can hear us talk, that way the boys can't eavesdrop," I said. Then looked to Matt, meeting his gaze.

"You two should have told me from the start," he said expression unchanged.

I opened my mouth to speak but Matt cut me off.

"Don't you think that it's important? That its something I should have known about? How stupid are you two? Don't you realize how many lives you put at risk? What would've happened if someone had gotten a cut? I'm fairly certain those vampires never bothered to teach her self control."

My mind flashed to Jeremy cutting his finger and me having to hold Emma back.

"It's under control," Emma squeaked. "I didn't hurt Chloe or Liz on our way to the hospital."

Matt didn't look convinced that one incident meant she had self-control.

"If it wasn't then you would've known about it sooner," I said.

"Don't think that I don't know that you all have your little secrets," Matt said.

"You wouldn't have let me stay if you'd known," Emma raised her gaze.

Matt opened his mouth and shut it and opened it again.

"You're a vampire hunter," Emma put emphasis on hunter. "There's no way you'd let a stray half vampire experiment tag along. You'd have killed me as soon as everyone's backs were turned in that shed."

I was happy for Emma standing up for herself but I saw anger rising in Matt's eyes. Maybe this wasn't the best time for her to be doing this. Was he angry at the accusation or was he angry at her being right?

His jaw clenched.

"Emma." He took a breath before continuing. "I'm trying to give you a slap on the wrist here instead of kicking you out of the group. Do not push your luck right now."

His angry gaze turned to me.

"How many people have been hurt that I don't know about?"

I blinked confused. "No one."

"I'm not stupid, she has to be getting blood from someone. Is it you? Or Jeremy?"

"I-I-I-" I didn't know what to say.

"You better figure something else out," he said to Emma. "I won't have you feeding off my family anymore."

To my surprise Emma kept her gaze and didn't flinch.

"You two are on very thin ice after that stunt you pulled running off." Matt said. "I don't care too much about what you all hide from each other. But you don't hide things from me. Especially things as important as species."

I nodded, Emma did too.

"Just…" Matt's anger melted away. "Be more responsible. I don't want to send you back to Tess' but its like you're trying to force my hand."


	81. Emma's reveal

**I'd like to apologize for the last chapter, it never got edited or proofread or finished really. I got some bad new while I was writing so I just posted what I had and called it quits for the night. I will go back and polish it up soon.**

**I don't think personally that Matt wants to pull the group apart, I think he's just kind of pulling a parent move and trying to keep them in line. I never really thought about Emma and Jeremy getting more connected, that might be an interesting avenue to explore. Would they have the same mind connection as Derek and Chloe or would they have their own thing? I did plan on having a lot more of their interactions in the next few chapters. I was even going to bring in the Derek teaching idea (spoiler). As for ages, with there being nearly two hundred chapters, some of them span several days and there's time jumps. I honestly think it might be about two years after the book ended by now. **

We came back in the room, Derek and Jeremy were trying too hard to act like they hadn't been trying to eavesdrop. They were both staring intensely down at their phones, Jeremy's screen wasn't even on. I couldn't help but chuckle. Werewolves and their nosiness.

Emma and I sat down beside the boys. Matt was still standing near the door, looking at Simon and Tori who were hunched over the spell book.

"Have you two made any progress?" He asked.

Tori looked up, "Please tell me its something as simple as saying the spell backwards."

Matt chuckled and shook his head. "I'm going to go get us some food. Keep trying while I'm gone."

"Are you sure the answers in here?" Simon asked. It was a valid question, had Matt ever looked in Tori's spell book before?

Matt picked up his keys, "The answers in every spell book ever made if you look hard enough."

He patted his pockets to make sure he had his wallet and then left to get food for everyone. I could feel Derek's gaze on me.

"Go ahead, ask already," I said.

"What was he talking to you two about?"

Liz and Kyle perked up, interested in the conversation.

I looked to Emma, I wasn't going to tell them if she didn't want them to know. But Kyle decided to speak up before Emma could think of what to say.

"It was about Emma, wasn't it?" Kyle said.

Jeremy grabbed Emma by her arm and pulled her closer to him on the bed.

"He's not getting rid of her without a fight," Jeremy growled.

I quickly jumped in before more was said.

"Matt's not getting rid of her," I said. "He just needed to make sure she has it under control."

Simon and Tori's interest was peaked now too, they pushed the book aside. Jeremy and Kyle were the only two to know what I meant by 'it.' I saw the glint of distrust in Kyle's eyes. He didn't believe her vampirism was under control.

"Emma hasn't had any issues with changing since she's been around, of course she's under control." Derek said.

"That's not what Chloe meant," Emma said. All eyes turned to her. "Matt found out more… detail… about what that nest did to me and he isn't a fan of it."

You could almost physically feel the rising curiosity in the room. I felt my chest tighten in anticipation of the reactions.

"Like?" Kyle probed her to continue.

"Like drinking blood," Emma's eyes were on her hands. She picked at her cuticles.

"Excuse me?" Derek thought he misheard.

I looked around at the faces, Derek and Simon looked confused, Liz had a look of shock, Tori looked horrified. Jeremy stayed firmly beside her, watching the expressions like me.

"I haven't hurt anyone," Emma looked at Derek. "It's not a big deal. It's under control."

Simon was quick to piece things together.

"So that's why the two of you went to the nest together," he said. "You both could get away with imitating vampires."

I nodded. I expected a classic Derek explosion, yelling at me for knowing and not telling him. But instead he looked at me and just said;

"You're getting good at keeping secrets it seems."

The appalled Tori finally joined in.

"I cannot believe you are all ok with this! She's a monster disaster. She could kill us in our sleep!"

"Aren't we all disasters?" Liz asked.

I don't think she was trying to defend or support Emma, I think she was just pointing out the obvious. We couldn't hold that against her because we were unwilling experiments too. Tori stood and announced she needed some fresh air. Kyle left with her.

"You all hate me now don't you?" Emma said.

They were definitely weary of her but they all said they didn't hate her.

"How did they do it?" Derek asked.

"Trial and error," Emma shrugged. "Most of the wolves died before it happened to them. They'd make us change and break our legs so we were weak and couldn't run away. Then bite and force feed their blood and all sorts of magic stuff. I don't know what most of it was."

Jeremy hugged her tight from beside her. He did seem a little shaky but it could have just been the bed moving. He hadn't been werewolf long enough to be changing.


	82. Pass the test

**I think a ghost interaction is a good idea. I will bring it in within the next few chapters!**

The room fell quiet but the air was still thick with tension. I was waiting for someone to rip Emma and I apart for the secrecy. They were for sure angry, but still no one was saying a word.

"Alright," I finally broke. "Somebody just say it already."

"Say what?" Liz asked.

"That she shouldn't have kept that a secret," Derek said. "That Emma should have been straight with us from the start. That they messed up and we are lucky that no ones been seriously hurt."

No one argued with what Derek said. I watched Emma sink back into her shell, ashamed.

"We can prove she won't be dangerous to keep around," I said.

Eyes turned to me waiting for me to continue.

"I'll cut my hand right now to prove it. Emma is fine around blood."

Panic widened Emma's eyes. Her fingers stopped picking cuticles and squeezed together trying to hold on to her composure.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Derek said. "You just got out of the hospital for major blood loss. Cutting yourself isn't a good idea."

"You do it then," I said.

Everyone watched quietly as Derek grabbed a small pocket knife and opened it. He watched Emma for a moment. Blade hovering above his arm. He didn't look worried but Emma was. She had turned herself into a statue, allowing only her eyes to move. I wasn't sure if she was even breathing. Emma didn't want to lose control and lose her new friends.

Derek quickly slid the blade across his left arm and little drops of blood welled up to the surface. Eyes darted between Derek's arm and Emma's face. Jeremy's arm was still around her waist for 'just in case.' Emma's eyes stayed on Derek's face instead of his arm. Tension gradually left her, relaxing her wide eyes and white knuckles. She flexed her fingers and breathed evenly.

After thirty seconds of blood slowly dripping around Derek's arm and on to his jeans, Emma finally said in a steady voice, "Did I pass the test yet?"

I didn't see any fangs when she spoke.

"I'd say so," Simon answered. He reached over to Derek's arm and the cut disappeared.

"Derek?" I asked.

"Don't be offended please if I'm still a bit weary of you," Derek said bluntly to Emma. "But yeah, you passed for now."

I turned to Liz. She smiled.

"I've always liked you Emma."

I looked to Jeremy; he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"She's not going anywhere, she won't hurt anyone," he said softly.

I don't know why but his soft voice made something pop into my head. I knew Emma was getting blood from him sometimes. Was his body throwing itself into changing to counter the blood loss? Did that even make sense?

I didn't get time to think about it further or even put it into words that made more sense, because Tori came storming back into the room. Kyle followed out of breath behind her. He must've had a hard time keep up with her.

"Glad to see all of you cozying up to a murderer," she spat. "Simon come on let's keep trying to figure this out. I want to go to Canada."

"Yes ma'am," Simon retired back to the book with her.

Kyle flopped down beside Liz as Tori and Simon had talked.

"She'll eventually either come around or shut up, so don't worry about her," he said. "So, what did I miss?"

"Derek cut himself so Emma could prove she had self control and could be trusted not to hurt if we get hurt."

Kyle blinked, "Wow, gutsy move. Glad it went well."

We all nodded in agreement.

"So we're all done then I assume," Kyle said. "We can go back to watching tv?"

Even with everyone being weary of Emma, they went to their own things. There was no point to keep the spotlight on her after Derek's cut. Simon and Tori were pouring over the book. Kyle turned the tv on and Liz tuned into it as well. Though they turned the volume down after a glare from Tori.

"Why haven't you yelled at me yet?" I asked Derek. I didn't care that I asked it in front of Jeremy and Emma.

"Because," he said. "It's not about me and what I would've wanted to happen. It's about you two and you were just trying to protect a new friend. I'm trying to respect that."

In other words he wasn't happy with it but was trying to be mature about it.

"Ok," I dropped it right there attempting to reciprocate the maturity.

I looked to Jeremy and tried to gesture towards Derek with my eyes. Derek still would be a better coach for him. Jeremy caught on after I did it a few times and shook his head. He wanted it staying between us.

"What's with the looks?" Derek asked.

Quickly I needed to come up with something to say. Jeremy beat me to it. He pulled something from his pocket and stretched his hand out towards Derek.

"Since you couldn't come into the hospital with us initially because you were in wolf form; the doctor gave me what she'd been wearing. I thought you'd want to return it to her."

My birthday necklace dropped from Jeremy's hand to Derek's.

"You didn't have to," Derek said. "But that's very kind of you."

I lifted my hair up and Derek placed the necklace around my neck and fiddled with the clasp. I got goosebumps as the cool metal touched my skin. Once Derek was done, I excused myself to the bathroom.

I stepped in, shut the door, and pulled out the envelope from Simon. I know its dumb but I wanted to open it by myself since I didn't know what it was. I slid my finger under the glue and opened it. Inside was a thick folded piece of drawing paper.

As I pulled it from the envelope I realized why it was thick, it was a small stack of papers not one. I unfolded them, it was Simon's comic starting all the way back at Lyle House. My breath caught in my throat as I looked over the drawings.

I almost missed it on the front page, above the drawings Simon had wrote. 'Our lives were never going to be the same the moment the schizophrenic stepped foot in our door.' I laughed.


	83. Chapter 83

Tori was not a fan of Matt's hands off teaching she wanted to know how to do it so we could get on with going to Canada.

"Can we get more help than 'look in the book'?" Simon asked Matt.

We were all eating slices of pizza and listening to the conversation.

"Reverse the spell book," Matt answered.

"That's not much of a hint," Derek said. "How would they know how to do that?"

Matt scribbled something down on a paper and folded it while whispering under his breath. He folded it into a paper airplane and sent it Simon's way.

"If you two can get around the binding spell on that paper airplane, you'll get the instructions to reverse the book."

Simon grinned at the change of challenge, Tori was still annoyed. Simon passed it to her.

"Binding spells are your specialty so you must know how to undo them."

Tori concentrated on the paper airplane and it slowly unfolded itself. She picked up the paper and started reading it out loud.

"Twist the front and back covers while saying the spell; reveal the opposites."

We all looked to Matt like he was joking. That sounded very nonmagical. Maybe he was trying to get them to break the book?

"You're actually serious?" Tori asked, eyebrows questioning.

Matt nodded, "Sounds stupid for a reason, you'd never think of actually doing that would you?"

Tori and Simon shook their heads.

"Go on and try it already," Matt nodded towards the book.

Simon picked up the book, one cover in each hand, all the pages hanging down. He twisted the cover and started saying the phrase. The binding creaked and protested before the whole thing seemed to jump in his hands. Simon nearly dropped it from surprise.

"Did you break it?" Tori snatched the book from his hands, it was in tact and unharmed. The cover had a slightly redder tint to it though.

"Open it," Matt said.

Tori opened the book and gawked. Simon looked over her shoulder with a look of smug satisfaction. It had worked. Tori flipped through the pages to the one that had held the spell before and started reading the new instructions. Simon read over her shoulder.

I looked to Matt and asked, "how can magic be so complicated and so simple? It should be one or the other."

Matt shrugged, "There's so much to magic I don't think it could ever be simplified. The rules change with every species."

"How did you think they would get to twisting the book?" Derek asked from behind me. "I don't think they would have ever guessed to do that."

Matt chuckled, "I figured they would eventually get mad at the book and accidentally figure it out."

"Will them undoing this spell have any effect on his spell with me and Liz?" Kyle joined in.

Matt shook his head, "I doubt that would happen. And if it does we just redo the spell connect you guys."

It was nice seeing Matt this relaxed and confident after his rough few days.

I didn't want to interrupt any conversations so I spoke quietly when I leaned over to Jeremy.

"Want something to drink? There's a vending machine down the hall."

Jeremy nodded slowly while giving me an odd look, trying to figure out if I was up to something probably. We got up and walked out of the room. Once the door was shut I looked him over.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

Jeremy shrugged, "Just really tense and sore, I'm still not sure."

**Meanwhile** Derek observed Emma out of the corner of his eye, he still wasn't entirely trusting her.

"What?" Emma had noticed him.

"How did you grow up before the vampires?" Derek asked.

Emma blinked, she'd expected him to say something critical not ask questions.

"My mother was a werewolf, my father wasn't in the picture. I grew up with her and my grandparents."

"In the human world?" Derek asked.

Emma shook her head, "No we were in a very small pack community."

Derek nodded slowly, not knowing what it was like to grow up around werewolves except for his time with the Edison Group, he didn't have any stories to compare with. He said the first question that came to mind.

"What was school like? Did you have human classes like science and English?"

Emma thought back, "Honestly, its been such a long time its hard to remember. I think our classes were pretty much the same as human classes. I remember our history classes were different though. We learned about the history of our pack and origins of different supernatural species. I don't remember any of the information though of course."

"Maybe you could give Emma some lessons Derek," Matt looked up from a notebook he'd been writing in. "She might need some general knowledge now that she's back in the human world. Plus, Emma, you might want to think about getting your GED."

Derek nodded, "I could do that."

Emma hid a small smile behind her hair. Having a future was a real thing now.

**Back to Chloe**

"Why aren't you talking to Emma about it?" I asked. "You said she had a lot on her plate?"

Jeremy examined the drink selection instead of looking at me.

"I guess she doesn't really, I just don't want to burden her when she's still acclimating to us."

I rolled my eyes, "Jeremy."

"What?" He looked at me.

"You're 'acclimating' her to a version of you not the real you if you pick and choose what she knows about you."

He sighed, "You're not wrong. I don't want to scare her away though."

"You're making excuses," I said. "You don't have to ask her for help but you should tell her at least. Or else she'll feel betrayed when the real you comes out."

"So how do I casually bring up that I suspect I'm changing species when I shouldn't for years."

Jeremy could be so difficult sometimes.

"You pull her aside and say hey I know it shouldn't happen for a long time but I think I might be changing. I feel off and it's happened sooner for everyone else."

He couldn't find a way to poke a procrastination hole in that. Jeremy tapped a drink option without really looked and bent down to grab it from the slot. We walked back to the room. Derek was digging through his backpack and Emma watched him head tilted to the side. Matt looked up from whatever he was looking at in Simon and Tori's book.

"Alright," Matt clapped. "Now that you two are back we can get started."

I gently elbowed Jeremy and he cleared his throat.

"Actually do you need Emma or me for this? I was hoping to talk to her for a minute in private."

Matt waved a hand to dismiss them to the hallway.

"We only need Simon and Tori for this really, I just wanted the rest of you to see it to learn. Even if you don't do magic it can still be handy to know things about it."

Jeremy and a confused Emma exited the motel room. I sat down in Emma's spot beside Derek. His arm snaked around me like always, pulling my close enough that our legs brushed.

A bowl sat in between Simon and Tori on the bed full of something. Spices maybe? Some type of magic herbs? Whatever it was, when Simon dropped a lit match into it, it smelled like cinnamon surprisingly. Tori waved her hands over it while speaking a passage from the book. Like always, I tried to figure out what language it was but couldn't pinpoint it. Had to be latin, I remembered from school that lots of movies used latin in their witch scenes.

Tori finished and we all looked to Matt. He nodded towards the book for them to take the next step. She took Simon's hand over the bowl and held steady while Simon repeated the passage. The bowl sparked as Simon finished and the pair let go of their hands. I swore I felt a breeze pass through the room as I watched Simon and Tori fall back onto the bed. Derek immediately jumped to his feet.

Matt quickly got in between Derek and the two, "This is normal. They'll wake up in a minute."

"Do all reversal spells knock people out?" I asked as I tugged on Derek's arm trying to get him to sit back down.

Matt nodded, "It's fairly common, especially with something complex like this where the magics leaving Simon and returning to Tori. Their bodies need to readjust to their new levels of magic. They're perfectly fine."

Derek sat back down but he was rigid.

"He's fine," I rubbed his arm.


	84. Chapter 84

**Emma's POV**

I followed Jeremy out into the hall. What did he want to talk about? Did I do something wrong? Was he leaving me?

Jeremy scuffed his shoes against the carpet and rubbed his hand through his hair.

"So um I need to tell you about something?"

I blurted, "Please don't leave me. Whatever I did, I'll fix it I promise."

Jeremy's eyes widened, "What are you-? Emma no you didn't do anything. I needed to tell you something I should've told you sooner."

My shoulders relaxed, I hadn't even noticed that they were tense.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I um I've been feeling really off lately. I know it'd be soon for me but I might be changing."

"And?" I waited for him to continue.

Jeremy frowned, "And I've never done that before."

To be honest I hadn't realized that this was a big revelation for Jeremy. My experience wasn't very normal after all.

"Emma?"

I guess I'd been standing there silent for a bit too long.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

There was no confidence in his eyes. He bit his lip. His legs had been shaking ever so slightly but I tried not to stare and make his discomfort worse.

"No," he said finally. "I know I did this to me but I didn't sign up for this part so soon. I don't want to change. I can't. I'm not ready."

I didn't know what to say right away so I just hugged him. He held me tightly, trying to maintain his composure.

"You can do it," I said. "It's going to suck but you'll get through it."

I stopped myself from adding 'I promise' to the end of my sentence. Mom had always taught me as a kid to never make promises you weren't sure you could keep. And I wasn't sure now, it was totally out of my hands how it went down.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked leaning back against the wall.

Jeremy sighed, "I feel like we're still getting to know each other. I don't want you to feel obligated to help me, Chloe will."

I felt a sting from that. He told Chloe before me…

"Well I'll do whatever I can to help if you need me."

Jeremy must've noticed I was a little hurt because he immediately started backtracking.

"I'm sure I'll need help from you. You're a lot more experienced then she is."

I let show a shy smile. He was cute when he scrambled to fix things. There was a panicked twinkle in his eyes.

"Have you been feeling any muscle jerks?" I asked.

Jeremy shook his head. "Not really."

"You've got time then Jeremy. Calm down, stress can make it worse. Trust me on that."

He took a deep breath.

"Should we go back inside?" He asked.

My heart fluttered as I prepared my next move.

"After this," I said and before he had time to question me, I kissed him. He tasted like bubblegum toothpaste.

Jeremy blinked slowly as his brain registered what just happened. I couldn't help but smile at it. Listening to his heart skip beats. I put my hands on his shoulders and turned him towards the door.

**Chloe's POV**

Matt was pulling Simon and Tori up to the pillows when Jeremy and Emma walked in. Matt didn't want their necks to be sore from laying awkwardly on the bed. I couldn't pinpoint Jeremy's expression to be honest and Emma looked kind of happy. What on earth happened when they talked?

"What happened?" Jeremy asked, seeing the two passed out.

"This is normal," Matt repeated. "Their bodies need to adjust to the magic."

Emma looked around the room and got closer to Jeremy, holding onto his left arm.

"Where's the non-ghosts?" She asked, referring to Liz and Kyle.

Now that she mentioned it, they hadn't said anything in a while. Looking around I realized they weren't in the room.

"They must've left," Derek suggested.

"That's not like them to just leave without saying though," I argued.

"Chloe can you look for them?" Matt asked.

I started to stand and Matt shook his head.

"I mean with your powers," he corrected himself.

So I closed my eyes and called upon my necromancy powers. Scanning for them. I did pick up the presence of a ghost in the lobby but it was old and weak. Someone who had died long ago.

"I don't feel them here," I said.

Worried looks were all around the room. Did their spell undo Liz and Kyle's spell too? Matt didn't say it was impossible just unlikely. And Tori was powerful enough to do something like that by accident.

**Minor Time Skip**

When Tori and Simon woke we walked around the motel looking for Kyle and Liz and didn't find them. I tried summoning them and nothing. Matt finally was the one to say out loud that they were gone because of the spell and Tori got very angry.

"I did not kill my best friend!" Tori shouted.

"You can't kill the dead," Derek mumbled.

"Tori do not put words in my mouth," Matt said very parent-like. "I did not say you killed them. I think your spell was undone. That is all."

"My magic is under control," she glared.

"Tori," Simon warned.

Little red sparks were coming out of her finger tips and landing on the carpet.

"Tori Bae you will stop this childishness right now!" Matt yelled at her. "I've had enough of it."

**A/N: I decided to bring this in since I don't know if she knew. If she did, my bad. If she didn't, now we're all on the same page:) **

I was surprised to hear Matt yell at her. Looking around, so was everyone else. Then I realized what they were surprised about; what he had said. Tori Bae. Simon's half sister.

"What did you just call me?" Tori tried to put venom in the question but it came out scared.

I glanced over to Simon who looked like a statue. His mouth agape.

"Um," Matt had no idea what to say.

"Are you telling me that Simon and I are related?" Tori's eyes narrowed, she waited for him to say he misspoke.

"I thought you knew Kit was your father," was Matt's response.

Tori went pale as she remembered having the biggest crush on Simon at the Lyle House.

"Oh god," she said slowly.

"Welcome to the family," Derek said then he began laughing.

I smiled at Derek's laughing, he was squeezing my arm with one hand and wiping tears away with his other hand. Simon began laughing at how hard Derek was laughing.

When the two finally caught their breath, Simon asked;

"Why would Dad not tell us? This is-"

"Horrifying," Tori finished his sentence. "I'm related to mutts now."

Derek was in too good of a mood to be offended. He smiled trying not to laugh again.

"Sucks for you," he said.

"I'm sorry Tori, I thought you knew." Matt apologized.

"Oh my god," Tori said again.

This time it was harder to figure out what she meant. Was she upset about being Simon's half sister? Or was she upset about her family not telling her? Kit really should've after all the time we spent together.


	85. Chapter 85

I was really worried about Liz and Kyle. No one knew what had happened to them. I tried summoning every so often but still nothing. It had been two days so we knew they hadn't just left without telling us, they'd be back by now. And we were in the room so we knew no one took them.

"Wherever they are, I'm sure they're fine," Derek tried to reassure me. "They'll find us when they can. There's not much we can do right now."

Simon's magic was back to normal, he had to concentrate pretty hard to make a spell work. I could tell her was a bit bummed about losing the magic but mostly he was happy about not having to worry about it anymore.

"We can't wait much longer," Matt told the group. "We are expected in Canada soon."

"Two more days?" I asked.

Matt sighed and nodded, "Alright fine. But no longer than that because we're also bordering on overstaying our welcome with the vampires."

"Lydia's not coming with?" Emma asked.

Matt paused before answering.

"I don't think she would be happy doing what we do," he said.

I felt bad for Matt never getting the life he deserved with his daughter. I hoped they reconnected someday. He never said any more about what went down between them that night. But it couldn't have been good if they haven't spoken since.

"Frankly, I'm surprised Emma's ok with it," Matt said. "I know your past with vampires isn't great but you're still sort of one of them. I'd have issues with a demon hunter even though I'm half demon."

Emma looked up from the notebook in front of her, a flare came to her eyes, "Someone needs to pay for what happened to me and you took away the opportunity for me to take it out on the vampires who did it."

The hostility surprised me. I knew she was doing this out of revenge but Matt didn't deserve that.

"Emma," Jeremy snapped. "How was he, or any of us, supposed to know you were in that shed?"

She sat there with her mouth slightly open, comeback ready on her lips, but instead she lowered her gaze and said, "Sorry. That was uncalled for."

Matt nodded to say it was forgiven. He looked over to me.

"Have you tried contacting Liz and Kyle?"

I nodded.

"Try again," he instructed.

I closed my eyes and called out to their ghosts. Pulling them to us. When I opened my eyes they still weren't in the room.

"Nothing," I sighed.

Matt picked up his jacket, "We'll try again when I get back. Tori, you're coming with me."

Tori grabbed her shoes and the pair left to get food to last us the next two days.

"So what do you think happened to them?" Simon asked me.

I shrugged, "I don't know honestly. I hope wherever they went they are ok."

Simon nodded, "Me too, I liked both of them."

I smiled remembering how Simon and Kyle were becoming friends even before they had really met. When I sat outside one night confessing my problems to Kyle and Simon agreed with what he said even though he hadn't heard it. The pair were very similar, destined to be friends.

"What about you?" I asked him.

Simon frowned, "I really think that it was a backfire from the spell or something. That they're ghosts trying to find their way back to us again." Simon lowered his voice. "So what do you think of Derek being a tutor? Weird right?"

Derek looked over at Simon with a joking glare.

It was a bit weird though really, a few days ago Derek was not a fan of Emma and now he was teaching her stuff so she would be able to fit in with the human world. The pair had been hunched over his computer and notebooks all day. He would ask her questions from each chapter to gauge where her knowledge was at in each subject. For some reason she knew next to nothing about history. Which, yeah, we all forget that stuff but she didn't even know what the Revolutionary War was. Supernatural schooling must not teach human history or something?

I realized I hadn't answered Simon back, he was watching me waiting for a response.

"Yeah," I teased. "He'd never have the patience to teach me."

Derek gave me the same teasing glare that he had given Simon before looking back down at whatever Emma had written. Right now they were discussing math. She knew the obvious basics of math but was stumped when he started giving complicated problems that involved solving for x.

"I don't know why I need to solve for x," I heard Emma mumble to herself. "X can figure it out itself."

I chuckled.

**Small time skip to later that day.**

**Jeremy's POV**

"What was that earlier?" I asked Emma. Someone was in the bathroom showering but everyone else had fallen asleep.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You snapped at Matt pretty viciously."

She mouthed 'oh' and scratched her forearm.

"So uh," she began and stopped.

"So?" I pushed.

Emma wiggled nervously, I wrapped a shaky arm around her and pulled her closer beside me.

"Well um there's this thing sometimes with werewolves," Emma looked anywhere but at me. "When they find the one they want to be with, their uh mate, they can get a little crazy when their mate like starts changing. Their minds consumed with protecting them because it's a vulnerable state. So it wears on the nerves a bit. Making us snippy. Some might say that's where the angry werewolf stereotype came from."

I processed what she said, comparing it to Chloe and Derek. Derek was always snippy and protective and she was a human when he began changing so it was hard to compare. Then it hit me, mate. She called me a mate. The branding of forever among werewolves. What on earth do I respond to that with? The edges of my vision got dark.

"Jeremy?" Emma poked me in the side which jolted me back from almost passing out.

"I'm fine," I said. "That's just… a lot."


	86. Chapter 86

Emma had clearly been scared to tell me the reason for her actions so I should have seen it coming that it was going to be some revelation. Now she seemed upset that I wasn't really reacting to what she said. I needed to say the right thing and now.

"Mate?" Came out of my mouth. "But you barely know me."

Emma's eyes sank even lower and I knew I said the wrong thing. I felt it too, why had I questioned her?!

"I'm sorry," I grabbed her hand. "I- I'm not good at this sort of stuff. I easily say the wrong thing. Please Emma, I didn't mean it."

"Ok," she said, eyes meeting mine but they were more distant than before.

"I feel it too," I continued. "I promise. Its like a fire in my gut when I'm around you. Like no one else could ever measure up to compare to you."

Emma let go of my hand and played with the ends of her hair as she watched me stammer.

"I found my X," I said, referencing her earlier algebra lesson.

That brought the smile back to her face.

"You're cute when you try to fix things," she smiled.

Emma slid down under her blanket more. "Let's go to sleep already. My brains tired."

I chuckled half relieved half amused with her. I fell back onto my pillow and watched her fall asleep.

**Next morning**

**Chloe's POV**

To be honest, if I haven't said it already, I was starting to get jealous of all this time Emma and Derek were spending together. He was my boyfriend but he was spending more time staring books with her.

I knew this jealousy was a bit irrational but I couldn't help it. Having another werewolf girl around was still kind of new. I mean she'd been around for a bit now but we were still finding out new stuff about her all the time. If it was a competition, she'd be winning because everyone knew practically every thing about me. I wasn't as interesting unless I was the damsel in distress.

That was it. I needed to be a damsel in distress again to get Derek's attention back. And the best way to get a werewolves attention was to go through changing. Something I hadn't done for a while so it would definitely get his attention.

But how on earth would I force myself to do that? The only person who could force me was Derek's father. There had to be a way to do it though.

"Tori," I nudged her with my foot. She was laying on the other side of the bed.

"Mmm," she said into the pillow.

"Tori I need your help with something," I nudged her again.

She rolled over and faced me, "What?"

I nodded towards her backpack that was on the nightstand next to her, which I knew contained a laptop. With a questioning look she grabbed it and pushed it my way. I pulled out her laptop.

"Hey," she snapped.

"I need to do some research," I said.

Tori lifted her head, "Of?"

I bit my lip and glanced over at the back of Derek's head. There was no way I could say it without him hearing it in here. Tori saw my glance and smirked, whatever she thought my glance meant, she liked it. Tori always was one for drama.

She sat up and took the laptop from my hands to type in the password. When she handed it back, it was opening the internet browser. My fingers hovered over the keyboard. Would google really tell me how to force a change? I doubt I could get real answers from it.

Simon plopped down on my other side.

"What're we up to over here?" He asked.

"Plotting," Tori answered.

Simon looked at the blank browser screen.

"Looks like some intricate plans of domination."

I chuckled, "No spoiling it for us, ok?"

Simon smiled and moved closer, setting an arm on the pillow behind me. With his other hand he pointed at a random spot on the screen.

"Now this is my favorite part. It's diabolical, probably Tori's idea."

Derek finally turned around, "What on earth are you guys talking about?"

Simon smiled innocently, "Oh just plans to break you and Chloe up."

My eyes widened, Derek didn't like that joke. His grip on his notebook tightened crinkling the paper.

"Relax mutt boy," Tori rolled her eyes. "He's messing with you." Then she looked over to me. "You'd think after spending their lives together, he would be able to pick up on when Simon's messing with him."

I chuckled with her, feeling better now. For some reason, seeing Derek get defensive about us breaking up let me get over my ridiculous plans for attention.

**Those of you that read my other stories as well, may have noticed that the story Family disappeared. I am completely lost to why this happened. I don't know if its a glitch or if it somehow got deleted or what. It's not in the recovery section either. If I can find my old word docs of the chapters I will reupload it, if not then I don't know. I could try to recreate the story but it won't be the same, ya know?**


	87. Chapter 87

I kept trying to summon Kyle and Liz and nothing. It was really starting to stress me out. We had until tonight to find them. Tonight we were leaving the motel and they would have to try to figure out where we went.

"Chloe stop," Simon tapped me on the arm with the back of his hand.

Simon, Matt, and I were the last still eating pancakes at the all you can eat breakfast.

"He's right Chloe," Matt said. "At this point I don't think they're coming back. They would've already if they could. Especially to someone with your power."

I sighed, "I can't give up. Tori's destroyed, Liz is her best friend."

Matt pointed at me with his forkful of syrupy pancakes.

"I know you care a lot about your friends but you can't kill yourself over it. Chloe you look like you haven't slept in a week, you're draining yourself summoning this much. It's putting too much stress on you."

I knew this was true and I knew the consequences, if I stressed myself much more I'd probably change. Something I'd wanted to happen yesterday but today not so much. The process was horribly painful.

I shoveled the last of my pancakes into my mouth and stood from my chair.

"I'm fine," I said through the pancakes.

"Wait," Simon grabbed me. "You never said anything about your gift."

Matt nodded and grabbed his plate, "That's my cue to go." He said mostly to himself.

"Which one?" I half smiled. "Derek let slip that you helped him with his."

I sat back down.

"Both," Simon smiled.

"Well a shrinking spell to turn it into a necklace is pure genius if I may say," I absently played with the pendant. Not realizing there was syrup on my fingers. "And the comic is amazing."

"Even though its unfinished?" Simon asked.

He elaborated after seeing my confused look, "Our adventures aren't done yet."

I smiled, "Hopefully they never end. Even if they're just us figuring out how to turn on the tv when we're eighty."

Simon laughed and we gathered our plates to dispose of them before going back to the room.

**Jeremy's POV**

I don't know how quickly this came on for the others but this seemed plenty fast to me. I woke up to thinking I was having a heat stroke. My blanket was plastered to me from sweat. I took a quick shower as everyone was waking up and got changed into drier clothes.

"It's a good thing we don't pay a water bill here," I mumbled to myself as I wiped off the foggy mirror to look at myself.

When I got out, everyone must have gone down to breakfast. I wasn't feeling hungry though. Really, I felt more sick to my stomach than anything else and growing up I found out the hard way that if I eat when I feel sick to my stomach; I am guaranteeing that I throw it back up.

I couldn't believe they had all gone through this before. Especially Derek, the first to go through it. We all learned from him what the signs meant. But he must not have known what was happening to him. Derek must've been scared out of his mind. He knew he was a werewolf but it wasn't supposed to come for years and then one day he feels off and just gets sicker and sicker instead of better. That's awful. How did he not end up begging to go to a hospital? I would've.

**Chloe's POV**

We got back to the room and I pulled Jeremy aside, he'd never come to eat.

"How're you feeling?" I asked.

Jeremy rubbed his neck.

"Fine. Just fine."

I rolled my eyes at his response. Partly because I didn't believe him and partly because I knew how much that got under his skin.

"It's a for sure thing," he said. "I talked to Emma about it and that's why she's been a little short tempered too."

"She's mad at you?" I was surprised.

Jeremy quickly shook his head, "No no, apparently mates sense when it happens to the other one and it makes them protective and short tempered and stuff."

"Mates?" Now I was really surprised.

Jeremy half smiled and exhaled a, "Yeah." Before continuing. "She said most though."

What was that supposed to mean?

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Well there's exceptions like you and Derek. You were human when he went through it and he's always protective and crap with you so people like you guys don't really experience it."

Were we the exception or were we not really mates?

My chest started to feel heavy and I quickly turned the conversation away from me before anxiety attacks set in.

"Are you ready?"

Jeremy shook his head, "Absolutely not but Emma said she wanted to help. So you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I still will if you need it," I said.

Jeremy smiled, happy to have the support from so many people.

By the time it was lunch I knew that what Jeremy said had pushed me over my stress level. I couldn't get it out of my head and my muscles were beginning to ache.

**So what do we think about the seed of doubt Chloe has planted now? Is she overreacting or is she maybe onto something?**


	88. Chapter 88

Matt had us pack up our things that afternoon, though it took us all of twenty minutes because no one had really spread their stuff out. We all knew the living situation was temporary and from our experiences, could be taken away at a moments notice, so we kept the majority of our stuff packed at all times.

Derek didn't sleep well last night so he was being rather grumpy today. I guess last night he dropped his pillow and never realized it so he had a sore neck.

"…they structure the sentences like this because it makes the progression of things easier. The subject, then what they're doing, then where…" Derek was explaining Language Arts to Emma right now. Why couldn't he look over and realize I was uncomfortable in my own skin right now. That I had stressed myself to the point of changing and I wasn't like Jeremy. It wasn't' my first time so it was coming on fast.

I looked around, Simon was using Tori's laptop, Matt was telling Jeremy stories about half demons, and Tori was in the shower. So I couldn't go into the bathroom and change.

I got up and tapped Derek on the shoulder, he winced. I must've tapped close to the crick in his neck.

"Hey," he said not looking up.

"I um I need your help," I said.

"With? I'm a little busy," Derek responded. Wow he was in a grumpy mood today, he never blew me off when I asked for help.

"It's important."

"Then ask Simon," Derek said.

I would've argued, I would've told him the reason for needing him, but I was hurt. Derek never blew me off so it stung.

I sighed and went over to Simon, stumbling a little bit because my leg muscle spasmed. Luckily no one seemed to notice that though. Thank god, the last thing I needed was a crowd watching me writhe around on the floor.

"Simon," I was determined to get someone to come with me. I couldn't do it on my own. I grabbed his hand away from the keyboard so he would have to look at me.

"What's wrong?" He immediately saw the panic in my eyes.

"Help, please," I pleaded voice cracking.

My shoulder jerked yanking my hand away from his and Simon knew exactly what I was asking help for.

He opened his mouth to say something and looked from me to Derek. He'd heard what Derek said and was in disbelief that Derek would dismiss this.

"Let me-"

I knew he was going to say let me talk to him so I cut him off.

"-please," I grabbed his hand again.

Simon nodded and quickly ushered me out of the room, calling something back to Matt that I didn't quite hear. We got outside and Simon looked up at the afternoon sun.

"We need to get somewhere with cover," he said.

There was the obvious choice of the woods but they were just too far to make it worthwhile. The trees were spread far apart until you got a ways in.

"Matt's car," I said and we sped to the parking lot.

We lucked out that Matt's car was unlocked and surrounded my the cars of other people staying at the motel. We had enough cover unless someone came out to their car. Simon ushered me in the back seat and shut the door behind him.

"What the hell is wrong with Derek? A bad nights sleep is no excuse to-"

Simon was stopped by the sight of my arms and shoulders tensing and shaking.

"What can I do?" He asked.

What was the first thing Derek and I always did? Find a place then… I had to concentrate to think.

"I don't want to rip my clothes," I said, finally remembering.

"Chloe um you're a girl," Simon said.

I ignored him though, maneuvering out of my t-shirt and jeans and leaving on my undergarments. Simon's face went beat red as he made sure to only look at my face. The problem was that my skin was almost rippling. Which he couldn't help but look at. I couldn't think straight enough to remember if he'd seen this before.

I let out a cry as a sharp pain ran up my back, almost like someone was threading my spin with a needle. I fell over, face in Simon's lap. He laid a hand on my shoulder, completely shocked and not knowing what to do to help. When I let out another cry he rubbed my shoulder gently. I couldn't hear if he was saying anything, all I could hear was the blood rushing through my ears.

Crack. Crack. My knees seared with pain. It felt like it was a hundred degrees in this car. The only cool spot on my body was my shoulder under Simon's hand. One by one my limbs jutted out in inhuman directions, snapped and readjusted themselves to a wolves body. I bit my tongue so hard I tasted copper.

At one point I could hear Simon talking, he gently said you can do this. You've done it before, you got this. I know it hurts but you're strong Chloe. And I really needed to hear that as my skull began to change shape. I don't know if I was screaming but I bet I was. It was the most agonizing part of the process next to my ribs. When my ribs shifted they constricted my lungs. I gasped for every breath feeling like a giant snake was squeezing me tighter and tighter. Simon was panicking asking what he could do to help but I couldn't answer him. Because there was nothing that he could do and because I couldn't breathe so how would I speak?

Eventually I laid there a wolf. Simon's hand laid on the back of my neck, cool against my blistering hot skin. He tried not to let me see the look of horror on his face but I saw it and my heart sank. I should have never asked him to come and let him see this. Simon heard my erratic breathing and buried his hand deeper.

"Calm down Chloe, it's alright. Just relax. You need rest."

I didn't need to be told twice, I closed my eyes.

**Matt's POV**

Chloe and Simon had been gone too long for comfort. I was beginning to worry that the vampires had realized that we were still here and had done something to the two.

"Derek," I said.

"What?" He grumbled.

"First of all lose the attitude," I began. "And after that go see where Chloe and Simon went. I don't like how long they've been gone."

Derek looked at the time and realized how long they'd been gone. He stood up and left the room without even grabbing his shoes.

"Stay put," I told the rest before following Derek.

He had his nose tilted up to the air as he walked trying to follow the scent without being too obvious. I thought maybe they had gone down to try to find leftover breakfast food but they weren't there. Derek lead me to the parking lot.

"I smell wolf," he said as he navigated to my car.

Well that was vague, did he mean a new wolf?

My question was quickly answered as we approached the car and Derek lost it. He raced over to the other side and opened the door. A dead asleep wolf jumped up and slammed into the opposite closed door closer to me. Chloe.

"Chloe," Derek slid into the car.

She stayed onto of Simon. I slid in the front seat so I wasn't coming across as blocking their exit out Simon's door.

"Chloe," Derek repeated sadder. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She tried to," Simon spoke for her. "You wouldn't look up from your damn study group to notice though."

Derek reached out for her and she growled. Surprising all of us.

"Hey," Simon said softly to Chloe. "I know you're angry but you need to relax."

Chloe stopped growling but the hurt was still evident in her eyes. Derek lowered his gaze and noticed blood on the seat.

"Simon," Derek said. "Why's there blood?"

"She just went through a traumatic experience," Simon said. "Could you not analyze it."

"Simon," Derek growled. "Is this your blood or Chloe's?"

Chloe's tongue came out of her muzzle, mouth? Whatever I'd call it. At first I thought she was attempting to stick her tongue out at him until I saw it. Deep wounds in her tongue. She had bit it while her teeth were sharpening to fangs and cut it really bad.

"Oh baby, oh no," Derek fully regretted not coming with her.


	89. Car ride

**Chloe's POV**

"Alright," Matt said. "We aren't putting Chloe's life at risk waiting until tonight. Simon and Derek go get your bags and tell the others we're leaving now."

They nodded and left. I could hear Simon digging into Derek for ignoring me as they walked away.

Matt watched me, "How're you doing?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that without using words. I just slumped back down onto the seat hoping he'd understand.

"Tired?" Matt asked. I did my best to nod. "I'm not surprised, that's a lot to go through. Try to nap once we get on the road. You can have the third row to yourself."

I forced myself to stand back up and hop to the backseat. My heart sank, normally we needed this third row but with Liz and Kyle missing, we had the room.

"If you need anything," Matt said. "Anything at all, let me know."

I laid back down, legs exhausted and body aching. I must have fallen asleep instantly because I don't remember anyone coming back to the car or leaving the motel. All I knew was someone was trying to get my attention.

We hit a bump in the road and I opened my eyes a slit. I could see the back of Simon and Derek's heads sitting in the seats in front of me so it wasn't them talking to me. I looked down towards my tail and saw someone sitting next to me. Opening my eyes all the way revealed Liz.

I stared at her and she watched me back.

"Finally you're awake, I've been trying to get your attention for forever."

I couldn't really respond so I just kept watching her.

"I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you, I could hear you calling but I was trying to find Kyle as well. I still haven't yet."

I stretched my leg out slowly and it passed right through hers.

"Yeah," she sighed seeing it. "Looks like Tori's spell was undone. We can redo it as soon as I find Kyle. I can't come back without him." She set a ghostly hand on my back. "Please tell Tori we aren't mad. She needs to know it wasn't her fault. It's an easy fix. Please Chloe?"

I gave a long blink trying to convey I understood.

"Thank you," she smiled. "I'll come find you again, keep calling for me every once in a while? It helps me find my way back. I'm going to find Kyle."

And with that she vanished. So Liz and Kyle were okay, I was so relieved. But I wasn't really able to tell the others until I was human again.

Now I didn't really feel like sleeping. I glanced up at the backs of heads again and they must have felt my gaze. Derek glanced back at me and made eye contact.

"What is it?" Simon said noticing Derek looking back, he turned around too.

"You've been asleep for a while," Derek said.

Ok and so? He would sleep straight through the night after changing and it was still daylight out so I couldn't have been out that long.

"How're you feeling?" Derek asked.

I huffed and rolled over to face the seat and have my back to them.

"I think she's still mad at you," Simon said.

I couldn't see their faces but I imagined Derek was giving the back of my head his sad puppy eyes.

"She has all the right to be," Derek said.

I tuned them out and listened to Emma and Jeremy's hushed conversation up front.

"You'll make it there, it comes on slow even if it doesn't feel like it is," Emma said.

"I don't know it's a whole days drive Emma."

"I promise it's not coming today," she said.

"Chloeee," interrupted my eavesdropping, Simon was trying to get my attention.

Annoyed I rolled back over to look at them.

"There she is," he smiled. "And you've almost mastered Derek's signature scowl."

I looked over to Derek who was now just watching me quietly.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Bingo! I remembered how I could communicate a little. I closed my eyes and pictured whenever I could think of where he would say sorry and do it again. And by the look on Derek's face when I reopened my eyes, he got the message.

"Chloe I'm serious it won't happen again," he said.

Simon looked between us confused, he was only hearing Derek's side of the conversation. I thought back to the safe hose after we found his family friend Andrew and how he manipulated me into helping him through his change even though I was so angry with him. I was trying to convey 'not this time' I won't be manipulated by the sad look in his eyes. I was justified in being upset with him.

"Everything alright back there?" Matt interrupted.

"Yeah, just chatting," Simon answered.


	90. The Border

**Oh my gosh thank you marienoelle124! I appreciate that so much :D**

When was I going to change back already? I was tired of not being able to talk. I needed to tell Tori about Liz and her message. It was nearing dinner time too and I had no idea how to eat in this body. I couldn't remember a time where Derek ate a meal as a wolf. Was my diet different as a wolf or could I eat regular human food? Was it even worth trying to eat because I would likely throw it up when I changed back?

"Uh oh she's lost in thought again," Simon smiled watching me stare out the car window.

I could feel the guys' gazes on me but I kept looking at the passing trees. What was the point if I couldn't talk to them?

When I blinked I saw the dark woods behind a small motel. Derek standing in front of me then grabbing me and kissing me. He was sending me telepathic messages now, trying to lighten my mood. I glanced a glare over his way then settled down into a ball on the seat. He couldn't try to trick me if I was asleep.

I closed my eyes and in the seat in front of me Derek buried his head into the palms of his hands.

"I don't know what else to do Simon," he said. "She hates me."

They didn't think I was listening anymore.

"No she doesn't," Simon said. "She's just upset."

Derek shook his head, "No man, she hates me for sure."

Simon likely rolled his eyes at Derek.

"If you really believe that then just give her some space until she cools off. You two will be just fine."

I heard the echo of Jeremy and my conversation in my head. _Well there's exceptions like you and Derek… you guys don't really experience it… _Maybe we wouldn't be fine. Maybe we had only been boyfriend and girlfriend not mates. A sigh whistled through my nose.

"For how long?" Derek asked. "What if she changes back in ten minutes? Is that enough time?"

Simon was stumped for a minute.

"Honestly I can't say how long if you're factoring in her changing back. She might need you, she might not want you around for it. Derek, whichever it is you need to respect her wishes. Don't force her to let you stay and help. You of all people know stress makes situations worse."

Derek sighed and leaned back into his seat more making it creak.

I opened my eyes and looked up towards the window. The view out it was definitely crappier from down here. All I saw was the sky and the occasional tops of trees. Which were becoming farther and farther apart as Matt pulled off into a town to find dinner options. If I stayed low we could go through a fast food drive through. If I had the patience to hide forever they could have gone into a sit down place for dinner.

A familiar shimmer passed over me. Matt's secret talking bubble spell.

"Chloe," he said. "I wanted to give you the chance to help me without the pressure from the others."

He couldn't see me from back here so I couldn't blink in response so I tapped the seat with my paw.

"I'll take that as an ok," he chuckled. "Will you be eating? Once for yes twice for no."

I tapped twice, I hated throwing up.

"Ok, I won't make you. Where do you think we should go? There's lots of fast food options around here and it wouldn't be hard to hide you with a blanket or with magic."

I tapped twice, these guys had to be sick of fast food by now.

"Oh," Matt was surprised. "Do you have another idea?"

He could magically conceal me and they could go into a place with quality food. How was I supposed to convey that?

"Skip dinner?" Matt asked.

I tapped for no.

"So a sit down restaurant? That's really the only other option."

I tapped for yes.

"What're you going to do sitting in here?" Matt asked. "We're nearing the border you can't stay in here alone."

Why did Matt keep asking questions that weren't yes or no?! I could sit in here and wait just fine.

"Chloe you aren't thinking of running across the border as a wolf are you? I know there's regular wolves around here but that'd be dangerous."

Well actually that was an interesting idea. Following the territory of a wolf pack up through the border and meeting them in Canada.

I tapped for yes. Adventures just like Simon and I talked about.

Matt sighed, "I don't like that."

I snorted trying to convey, "So?" I was the animal here, could he really stop me?

Matt was quiet for several minutes, I began to think he had taken his private bubble spell down.

"I am tying your cell phone too you and you call the MOMENT you cross the border I don't care if you're human or wolf. You will call. I don't care if your wolf claws break the phone in the process. You call."

I tapped for yes. Matt mumbled something about teenagers under his breath before taking the spell down.

"Ok everyone," he said. "There's a rest area maybe a mile up the road, we stop there for a bathroom break then we get dinner."

That tricky little minx, he wasn't going to tell the others. He was going to just let me run. Maybe he thought I needed to do it to blow off some steam.

When we arrived at the rest area, everyone started piling out to use the bathroom. I tried my best to imitate a dog bark, in case there were other people around, to get Tori's attention as she got out. She turned around and looked at me with concerned eyes.

I pawed at Liz's backpack.

"What? Do you want something out of it?" Tori asked with venom.

I shook my head and kept pawing.

"You know something, don't you?" Life came back to the walking shell of Tori. "She's okay?!"

I did my best to nod. Tori looked so happy she might cry.

"Is she here?"

I shook my head.

"She's coming back though right? So we can do the spell?" Tori stumbled over her own words with excitement.

I nodded.

"How mad is she?" Tori asked.

I shook my head. Not at all. Tori covered her mouth with her hands and quickly got out to go to the women's room. She was not about to let me see her cry even if they were tears of relief.

Now it was just Matt and myself. He tapped a rope around the phone and tied it around my neck kind of like a collar.

"I swear to god I will hunt you down if you go AWOL on me Chloe," Matt was deadly serious. "I will not let you run away because of a little lovers quarrel."


	91. Run Free

I ran and ran in the direction Matt pointed to as north. It was so freeing compared to the car. I sped around trees, over log, and under brush until I ran out of steam. I found a little pond and stopped for a drink of water.

Lover's quarrel… I know its just a phrase people use but Matt called us lovers. Not mates. Not even boyfriend/girlfriend. Was lovers all we were?

I shook my head after drinking my fill of the water. I needed to get these thoughts out of my head and instead focus on moving north. I couldn't take my time because there were real wolves here and I wasn't part of their pack.

Matt said they would be arriving at the destination around midnight-ish give or take some time depending on how much Derek freaked out. So I had a few hours to get to the border but it _was _a few hours away. Especially with being on foot. So I kept moving north through the woods. Hoping that I wasn't going astray from the right direction. It can be hard to tell in the woods when everything seems to look the same.

I brought myself up to a jog as I moved. If I was going to be in a wolf body I might as well enjoy it and embrace it. I should not be sitting around waiting to go back to being human. My wolf legs were so much stronger than my human legs. Even though I felt like I was only jogging I had to be going as fast as I would be running as a human.

**Meanwhile**

**Third Person POV**

Simon was the first to return to the car. He slid into his seat and turned around, immediately noticing that a wolf was missing. Simon got out of the car and started looking around the small parking lot for Chloe. Maybe she just desperately needed to use the bathroom and had to risk going out in the open.

"Simon?" Derek was next to return to the car.

"Chloe's gone," Simon didn't sugar coat it.

Derek blinked, "What?"

"She's not in the back seat Derek. She's gone."

Derek nearly yanked the handle off the door as he got in to see for himself.

"Where is she?" Derek spun around looking.

Emma and Matt approached.

"What's going on?" Emma asked, seeing the pair in panic.

"Chloe's gone," Simon said again.

"I know," Matt said. Making both Simon and Derek freeze and turn to look at him.

"Excuse me? What do you mean you know? Where is she?" Derek asked.

Matt leaned against the driver's door calm.

"Chloe needed some air and some space. She'll meet us in Canada."

"But she's a-" Simon stopped himself from saying wolf because a woman was walking by with her kid.

"Which is why she can meet us in Canada," Matt said. "It's the best way to get across the border undetected. There's wolf packs all around this part of the continent, no one will question seeing her."

Matt clearly didn't care about the woman overhearing anything. Derek turned towards the tree line, ready to catch her scent and follow her.

"No," Simon caught his arm. "If she was willing to take off like this to get space, you can't go following her."

"She could die out there," Derek pointed out.

"So could you," Matt said. "Especially since you're a human. You'd have the wolves and the border patrol after you. Are you really going to put yourself in a shoot first ask questions later situation when she doesn't want to see you?"

Derek got into the car without another word. Matt's words stung him pretty good. Chloe was willing to run out into pack territory, across a border, potentially turn back to human at any time, just to get some space from him. Was him not bothering her while she was in the back seat, not enough?

**Chloe's POV**

So far so good, I hadn't run into any humans or dangerous wildlife. The deer steered clear as soon as they heard me coming. Everything here thought I was a real wolf. My stomach growled loudly, missing lunch and dinner really sucked. But what on earth was I supposed to eat out here? I had no idea what vegetation was edible and what was poisonous. And I was absolutely not going to kill an animal and eat it raw. Gross.

I made it about an hours journey I'd guess before I smelled traces of the wolf pack. I was now on their territory and needed to calculate my every move.

There were scents everywhere from the wolves, I couldn't tell how many there were. But I didn't have to wait long to find out. As I moved along I heard movement off to my left and I spotted a tiny wolf watching me from brush. A scout sent to see who was trespassing. The wolf quickly disappeared and I picked up my pace. They knew I was here now.

**Jeremy's POV**

We sat in a diner eating, normally with one of us missing and in a dangerous situation; we would all be too worried to be able to eat. But since we missed lunch and we had Matt's reassurance, everyone but Derek and I were shoving down their food. I slowly munched on some fries off Emma's plate but I still felt sick to my stomach. Emma couldn't be right, this wasn't coming on slow. I didn't feel ill that long ago.

She said this was how it went for most werewolves, you feel kind of off, then sick, then the soreness and spasms began. My muscles ached but I wasn't sure if I was moving along that fast. I always ached when I got sick growing up because I'd refuse to eat and make things worse. If I could keep these fries down, I would feel better. Heck, maybe I was just sick and nothing more. But then why would Emma be experiencing things too?

I still was in shock with her. Mates. I'd had the occasional girlfriend but I was never a believer of long lasting love. That's why I flirted so much with Chloe back in the laboratory days. I thought she'd come and go just like the rest of the people in that place. There was so few of us that stuck around and lived through everything that they did.


	92. Gray Wolf

**Chloe's POV**

The scout came by a few minutes later, tracking my progress through the area. But this time he was followed by a bigger dark gray wolf. I prayed it wasn't the alpha of their pack. I just kept my head down and kept moving north. I wanted to run but I knew that would attract too much attention. They vanished into the trees but only for a short while.

I should have been paying more attention to the sounds around me not just what I could see. If I had, I would've heard the gray wolf coming. He jumped at me and tackled me down. I yelped with surprise and fell.

I expected the gray wolf to attack me, bite me, something. But instead he stood back up and watched me. I laid on the ground submissively. He stared at the rope around my neck and nudged it with his muzzle. I growled. I was not losing this phone because I had no idea what Matt's number was. Note to future self, memorize it.

When I growled, the gray wolf stepped back. Watching me intensely. I stood back up and shook dirt off me. When the gray wolf didn't try to make another move, I turned and stepped. He whipped around to be in front of me and getting in my way of going north.

Again I waited for him to make an attack move or something. But he really seemed like he was more curious with me than threatened by me. I stepped around the gray wolf and continued walking, he followed so close I occasionally hit him with my tail.

The phone around my neck started to ring, scaring us both. I took the opportunity and started sprinting north as fast as I could. The gray wolf never followed, he took off in a different direction.

I sprinted until I was breathing so hard my vision was fuzzy. What time was it? Where was I? And who the hell called me? I was going to lay into them when I found them again.

Fortunately, after a quick rest, one of my questions was answered. I came upon a road that lead to big booths with yellow and black wood arms that stuck out over the road. The border crossing! I slinked back into the trees to keep cover and walked parallel to the road. Slipping by undetected. Or so I thought.

I was maybe a few hundred feet past the booths when I heard two voices in the main control booth.

"We picked something big up on the sensor. You think someone's sneaking?" One woman asked.

"There's lots of wildlife around here, that sensor's a waste of taxpayer money. It was probably a deer."

I didn't wait to hear the verdict of their conversation, I started running again. Not as fast as before though, I was really running on fumes now. After not even five minutes, I had to stop and retch up stomach acid. My body could not take this empty stomach running any longer.

I pawed at the rope until it finally broke and tapped at the screen with the pads of my paws until it called Matt. Which actually took several minutes since it wouldn't recognize that I was trying to do something.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?" Matt answered.

I growled.

He chuckled, "Made it, huh? Glad to hear it. Keep heading north and I'll track the GPS on your phone and pick you up as soon as I can."

I growled again. I don't know what the growl was supposed to be as a response but it didn't matter, Matt hung up. I leaned down and bit into the rope, the phone dangling down. I needed to find a road so Matt would have an easier time being able to find me. I'm sure they all wanted to go to bed soon instead of wandering around in the dark looking for me.

Werewolves had better eyesight than humans but it still wasn't night vision. I still stumbled over roots and rocks.

**Simon's POV**

Matt clicked the phone and set it in his cup holder.

"Was that Chloe?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah she's across the border."

Derek straightened up a little, "She's human?"

"I didn't say that," Matt shook his head. "She figured out how to work the phone as a wolf."

Derek reached for his phone in his pocket.

"No," I told him. "Space Derek. Give her space. You know that she's fine."

He set his hand back down. I swear it was like trying to keep a kid from eating his candy on Halloween. I know he loves her but this fixation didn't really seem that healthy.

"Why don't you give Emma another lesson while we wait?" I suggested. "It'll be a better way to pass the time than you sitting here thinking about her nonstop."

Derek shrugged. "Maybe."

Matt passed Jeremy his phone, "Can you look at Chloe's location and tell me how far away she is?"

Jeremy messed around with Matt's phone for a minute or so, my guess is he isn't that tech savvy.

"She's about forty or forty-five minutes away. Though it's having a hard time pinpointing a location, she must not be near a road."

"That's a good thing though," I pointed out. "That means she well hidden from humans."

Matt nodded in agreement.

"Get directions to her location, Jeremy, even if it can't get us all the way. The closer the better."

Jeremy nodded and turned his attention back to Matt's phone. Emma watched over his shoulder. I had to wonder how often she dealt with phones before or even in captivity. There's no way the vampires would give her a phone to use and she was probably too young to use one before all that.


	93. Shot

Chloe's POV

Finally after some time, I found a road and I set the phone down in the gravel beside it. Hoping that it would indicate to the group that this was the woods I was hiding out in. I made my way back into the trees when a loud bang went off. Before I could turn to see what made the sound, pain exploded through my shoulder.

I collapsed onto the rocky ground and humans started hollering somewhere nearby. Was I just shot?! I needed to stop the bleeding. I could heal if I could stop the bleeding. I stood back up without putting my right leg down.

"It's still going!" A human yelled.

Bang. Bang. More shots fired. I fell back to the ground before they could hit me, listening to them wiz past over my head.

"What the-" another said. "Let's get the hell away from that thing. It's got rabies or something."

Footsteps and then an engine started. Why did they think I had rabies? Because I didn't die? I tried to stand and couldn't really move my legs. They were spasming in every direction.

Oh, that would be why. Because the shock of being shot is making me change back to human. Great timing. With my injured leg I tried my best to pull myself deeper into the trees, I was still fairly visible to the road, but the rocky ground made it impossible. I just kept slipping.

I was changing and losing blood. This is how I was going to die, I knew it. I vomited more stomach acid and my vision was blurry again.

The purr of an engine drowned out my cries and bones breaking. Please let it be Matt.

Next thing I knew something heavy was overtop of me and something was against my face pushing air into my lungs. I opened my eyes as I coughed. The heavy thing I felt was a blanket, because I was human…and not wearing clothing.

"There she is, you're gonna be alright."

My body was still searing with pain. It was so dark I couldn't tell who this person was. All I could make out was I was in a vehicle.

"You'll be sore for a few days but you've healed already."

I opened my mouth, it was sandpaper.

"Who…are you?" It took me a minute to say.

The dark figure chuckled, "The name's Larry. I'm a werewolf too. That's Cyan."

I couldn't see but he must've gestured to the person driving.

"Wh-"

The man, Larry, placed a finger to my lips.

"Shhh, you need your strength, lots of peoples ribs break during CPR. Did you know that? We're only a mile from town now, you'll be fine."

A werewolf? Taking me to a town? I had to be hallucinating.

"No chance you're part of the pack are you?"

I shook my head slowly, feeling like I was going to throw up if I moved too fast.

"Vamp… hunt…" I said and he put a finger to my lips again.

"Hey Cyan we picked up one of the hunters," Larry said.

A woman's voice responded from the drivers seat.

"She seems to be a little young to be part of a group of vampire hunters."

Larry made a tsk tsk sound, "She can be so difficult. Let me check your shoulder."

He moved my hair and the edge of the blanket out of his way before inspecting my bloody shoulder.

"I don't see a wound any more, you'll be just fine."

"Sore is what she'll be," Cyan interrupted. "You nearly broke her ribs. What if sh wasn't a werewolf? She'd never have healed from that."

We turned onto a road with street lights and I finally saw Larry's face. The man was covered in tattoos and scars. He looked like he was probably in his thirties even though his hair was buzzed so short I couldn't see the color of it.

"My phone," I mumbled.

"Yeah, about that," Larry started.

I groaned, had they run it over? How would I get ahold of Matt now?

Larry chuckled, "I'm kidding It's up front with Cyan charging."

We hit a pothole and I lost the remaining contents of my stomach.

"That better not have been what it sounded like," Cyan threatened.

Larry used his sleeve to wipe off my face, "Oh don't be like that, you know I'll clean up."

"We're here," Cyan pulled the car off the road.

Larry got out first and scooped me up in the blanket. I finally got a look at Cyan and she wasn't what I expected with her attitude. Cyan had long dark blue hair and bright green eyes and tattoos that moved around her pale skin. Where they magic tattoos or was I losing my mind? Cyan held the door open and they brought me into a little cozy cafe. There were a handful of people sitting around a table but none of them looked up as we came in. Larry walked straight through to the bathroom and sat me down on the counter. Cyan handed him a bag and stepped out, shutting the door after her.

"She's going to want these back, just so you know," Larry handed me the bag containing a change of clothes.

Larry stepped out and I got down from the counter shakily and put them on. Every muscle in my body ached especially my shoulder. When I was dressed, Larry helped me scrub the blood and dirt from my arms and face. Next he lead me back out to the cafe where Cyan had a bowl of hot soup waiting for me.

"How'd you find me?" I asked after a few spoonfuls.

They both shrugged.

"Pure chance, we happened to be driving by and saw you."

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Welcome to Elba," Larry smiled. "A supernatural community."

What did he just say? A supernatural town? I didn't believe him.

"If she really was one of the hunters, she'd have known that," Cyan said.

"Can I have my phone please?"

Cyan passed it to me. My fingers hovered over my contacts. I didn't know who to call at first. Was I ready to talk to Derek yet?

I clicked on Matt. It didn't even ring before he answered.

"Where the hell are you? I'm standing next to a puddle of blood Chloe."

There was commotion in the background as soon as he said my name.

"I got shot by a hunter but I'm ok now. I'm in Elba."

"You're sure you're ok?"

"Yes."

Matt sighed with relief, "That's where we were hired to go. How'd you find it?"

I didn't really feel like playing twenty questions right now.

"Can it wait?" I said. "I'm alive and that's what should matter."

The sound f a car door slamming.

"We're on our way."

I set the phone down and picked up the spoon.

"I'm tired," I said and had a few more spoonfuls of soup.

"We can find you a place to rest as soon as you eat. You need it," Larry nudged the bowl closer to me.

Matt's POV

We drove down the road that the GPS directed us to and didn't see Chloe. I rolled down the windows hoping to hear her.

"Stop," Emma said. "I think I smell her scent."

I pulled to the side of the road and we quickly found the source of the scent. There was blood all over an area. Too much to not be concerned. Something had attacked her good.

"Stay alert, fan out," I said. "She's around here somewhere and probably whatever got her is too."

I heard Derek mumble something under his breath about being right.

We spent ten minutes trying to figure out if the blood trailed off anywhere or if her scent went anywhere and found nothing. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Chloe's more important than a phone call, I almost didn't check to see who it was. But as soon as I saw "Chloe Calling" on the screen, I answered.

"She actually beat us to our destination," I told the others as we floored it down the road.

"She's ok?" Derek asked.

"She's human?" SImon asked.

I nodded, "Some hunter shot her I guess."

"Why would you say she's ok then?" Jeremy exclaimed.

I took a turn a little too fast and prayed no cops were around.

"Because she's alive," I said. "How're you doing Emma?"

I had noticed she hadn't said much since we found the blood.

"Um I'm fine," she said but it wasn't convincing.

Her whole body was rigid and her fingers were digging into the seat. Jeremy started rolling up his shirt sleeve.

"Jeremy," I snapped. "I told you no more of that."

"Got a better idea? Jeremy challenged me.

"Emma needs to learn control," I said.

She bit into her lip, "I'm fine. I'm fine. Matt's right."

Tori rolled her eyes, "So next time I'm hungry do I just have to learn to control my urge to eat?"

"What?" I was surprised by Tori. "No. This is different."

"Really ? Mind explaining how? Cause it sounds like you're tellin the hungry no to eat," Tori said.

I opened my mouth to explain how vampires shouldn't just feed whenever, they needed to have self control to avoid detection and hurting others, but Simon pipped in.

"Weren't you the one who was against her being around because she might feed off you when you least expect it?"

Tori nodded, "People can change can't they?"

"You never change unless you have an ulterior motive though," Derek pointed out.

Tori dramatically huffed, "Can't I just be in a good mood without being questioned?"

She had a point there, she was allowed to be in a good mood. Her dead friend had resurfaced again. I wondered if Liz was with us or Chloe right now.

I glanced over and during all the arguing, Jeremy had allowed Emma to bite him.

"I will not have people feeding from each other in this group," I warned them sternly. "You need to come up with an alternative immediately."


	94. Djinn

I would've wanted to see this supposed supernatural town but all I really wanted right now was sleep. When I finally finished the soup, Larry was going to take me to find somewhere to sleep but Cyan stopped him.

"Her friends are going to be here soon," Cyan said. "She can wait for them."

I sipped the juice I had been given. I think it was mixed berry because it didn't taste like any specific fruit.

"What are you?" I asked Cyan, watching an octopus tattoo on her arm wiggle its tentacles.

She grinned, "I think I'm starting to like you. You're direct. I'm a Djinn."

"A what?" Had I ever heard of that before?

Larry leaned towards me, "Think of it as a genie crossed with a demon. She's got lots of power but she uses it to poison and feed on people."

My jaw was on the floor. They had to be messing with me. A killer genie?

"Are you new to the supernatural world?" Cyan asked seeing my expression.

I shook my head.

"What species have you heard of then?" Larry asked curious.

"I know werewolves, vampires, necromancers, demons, witches, and wizards," I think that was a complete list. I mean except for hybrids.

They nodded, Cyan said, "Well stick around for a bit and you'll learn about a lot more."

"Can I ask why a town of supernatural creatures needed to hire vampire hunters?" I asked and yawned.

It had dawned on me that they could've dealt with the problem themselves.

"I was wondering when you'd ask that," Larry said. "The people in charge knew this hunter guy. Excellent at his jo apparently; and he owed a favor to one of them so they cashed it in instead of getting their own hands dirty."

"But they could've just fired a local to do it," I said.

"Hire a local they'd have to pay," Cyan raised one hand. "Cash in a favored owed for free." She raised the other hand a little higher.

"Fair point," I nodded and yawned again. "So what's the vampire problem?"

Before they could answer the door swung open letting in the cold night air.

"Chloe," Matt smiled walking in. Relief relaxed his body. He knew I was ok from the phone call but seeing it was a whole other thing. Matt scooped me up from the chair and hugged me.

"Who's this?" Cyan asked.

Matt answered before I could, "Flint Staton."

He slyly winked at me as he set me down and extended a hand to her. Cyan didn't move.

"Cyan," she said. "Djinn. I can't touch people without poisoning them."

Matt lowered his hand, "My apologies."

"Larry," Larry smiled. "I'm the town nutjob."

We all laughed. He did look that way with sitting here in a café at night in blood stained clothes and a smile.

"I can't thank you two enough for helping Chloe out."

Larry waved it off, "No worries Flint. Do you guys have a place for tonight yet?" 

Matt nodded, "Yes thank you."

"You best get going then," Cyan said. "She needs rest."

Matt nodded, thanked them again and then guided me out of the café.

"So when are you going to say I told you so?" I asked as we walked towards the car.

"I'm not," Matt squeezed my shoulder gently. "You're going to get enough of that crap from these guys I bet."

Matt opened the drivers door and I slid in first. The gang erupted with comments and questions but I just closed my eyes and fell asleep to the hum of the engine. They nudged me trying to keep me awake long enough to get to where we were staying but I was so tired.

"She's exhausted guys," I heard Matt say. "She nearly died, let her rest. Derek can carry her inside."

I woke a little when familiar smelling arms lifted me from the seat. They carried me inside and set me down on the softest bed ever. I grabbed the squishy pillow and held it close as I started drifting back off to sleep. Someone chuckled as the bed shifted from them sitting down beside me.

I had no idea what time it was when I woke up, it was early morning at least. I was in a bedroom not a motel room like I'd expected. Though I should've wondered why there would be a motel room in a supernatural town. They probably didn't have humans traveling through needing a place to stay.

Sunlight came in through the sheer curtain that covered the window. The walls were white and the furniture was all a dark brown wood. Though there wasn't much furniture, just the bed, dresser, desk, and a small table that was probably used as the nightstand.

Finally I rolled over to see behind me, expecting to see a sleeping Derek but instead I found a sleeping Simon. Why was he here? Had he brought me instead of Derek? I'd been half asleep during that so I couldn't remember.

Simon rolled over. "Morning," he said sleepily. My moving around must have woken him. "How do you feel?"

"Sore," I said. "But fine. What're you…"

I stopped myself too late. Even though I was curious, the question was still rude.

"We paired up for the room and Derek's trying to give you space since you're mad," Simon rubbed his eyes. 

I drew out the pairings in my head. Simon and I, most likely Jeremy and Emma, which left Matt, Derek, and Tori.

Simon saw the wheels turning, "Derek bunked with Matt. Tori wanted her own room so she can bunk with Liz when we get her back."

That reminded me that Liz said to keep calling to her. It helped her keep track of where we were while she searched. I needed to do that today.

"Where are we?" I asked. Having this many rooms sounded odd.

"The people who hired Matt said we could stay at this house. The family who lives here is away on vacation in the Bahamas," Simon smiled and added, "So don't break anything or Matt will kill us."

I smiled back and adjusted the blanket. I strained to hear anyone else in the house but didn't. we must be the first ones up.

"Can I ask what it was like?" Simon asked.

"Being shot was-" I started.

"No no," Simon interrupted. "What being a real wolf was like. You got to explore being a real wolf not just a wolf body waiting to change back."

"Oh," I was surprised. "Honestly it was great. I could run and jump so fast. I could smell everything in the woods and hear the animals run from me. I ran until I couldn't feel my legs because I was moving inhumanly fast. I also ran into some real wolves too. That was fascinating. This little scout kept track of where I was until this bigger wolf caught up. I thought they were going to hurt me for trespassing but all they wanted to do was smell me and observe me. They radiated curiosity."

"That's amazing," Simon said. "Would you stay a wolf forever if you could? I read a book like that once, every time they became a wolf they stayed that way a little longer until they stayed a wolf forever."

I thought about it for a moment," I don't think so. I loved what I could do but communicating is just so so hard. I'd go insane."

Simon chuckled, "I've noticed how it can be frustrating."

I heard footsteps walking somewhere in the house. It was hard to tell where when I didn't know the layout.

"Are you still mad at Derek?" Simon asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe not mad, but I'm still hurt. I know I didn't blatantly say to him hey I'm changing but I feel like I made it as obvious as possible that I needed help. And he didn't care."

"Chloe he does care. You're right to be upset, but at least cut him some slack. He's used to you being direct with him."

Simon had a point there.

"So? Silent treatment or talking?"

"How about down the middle?" I said. "Short to the point. Very minimal."

Simon outstretched a hand, "I'll take it. Better than silent treatment."

I rolled my eyes and shook his hand.


	95. Breakfast

**Those are great chapter names, thank you!**

The person I'd heard moving around was Matt. He came and knocked on our door to see if we were awake because he started breakfast. Simon went down as I got changed back into my clothes. I remembered Larry saying that Cyan would want these back. I had no way of contacting them so I didn't know how I'd return it.

I put on my jeans and a dark red t-shirt. There was still crusty blood in my hair, I really needed a shower. But my stomach rumbled loudly. Food first.

When I came down it was still just Simon and Matt awake. There was a stack of steaming pancakes on the table. I grabbed a plate and stole half the stack, diving in as soon as I sat down.

"So Matt," I said. "Why'd you give those guys a fake name?"

Simon raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I have many aliases," Matt said. "It's how I stay anonymous and legend-like. No one knows who the real me is. Around here I'm known as Flint Staton."

"How do you keep track of all your aliases?" Simon asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

Matt shrugged, "It can be hard sometimes, if I'm somewhere for a very short time I'll go by a generic name like Joe or Bob where I don't need to remember it. But places like this where I know I'll be back someday, I actually keep them written down on a map."

"What do you do if you come across a bunch of people that know you differently?" I asked. "Like if someone moved here and they knew you as Jim or something."

Matt sat down and grabbed some pancakes, "It varies situation to situation but I'm usually honest with them that I need to keep my true identity a secret to protect family. Knowing my profession, they don't question it."

Jeremy came down the stairs looking like he hadn't slept.

"Morning," he said to everyone.

"You look like you could use some coffee," Matt pointed a thumb over to the coffee maker.

Jeremy sat down at the table instead, "I slept great last night actually. These beds are sooo much nicer than motel beds."

"I know," I gushed.

"You feeling alright then?" Matt asked.

Jeremy shrugged, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He set only one pancake on his plate and picked at it slowly.

One by one everyone came downstairs. Derek was looking like he hadn't slept much either. I wondered if he was still worried about me being mad. Simon squinted his eyes at me and pointed with his fork, indicating I needed to say something.

"Morning," I said to him. "Sleep ok?"

Derek looked genuinely surprised that I was speaking with him.

"Fine," he said. "You? You seemed like you were in bad shape last night."

"Good, I was just really tired."

Then I looked to Simon to see if that was enough. I wasn't really in the mood for small talk. Simon nodded that I had done as I said I would.

"What?" Derek asked, seeing the exchange of looks.

Simon gestured back towards the rooms so they could speak privately. Derek followed him

"Look man," Simon said after shutting the door. They had ducked into the first bedroom, so I could still hear it with my werewolf hearing. I'm sure Jeremy and Emma could too. "I talked with her and got her to agree to talk to you a little bit today. I know that is not much but its better than her ignoring you. She's upset, please don't push it."

"How did I push it?" Derek asked.

"You didn't," I'm just asking that of you in advance because I know you. As soon as she quiets back down, you'll be wondering what the heck is up and start pestering her with questions which might make things worse. Just keep it cool."

Derek sighed, "I will. But I think I've already lost her Simon."

There was the sound of someone getting slapped across the arm.

"Don't say that, she's your first girlfriend, how would you know this?"

"Because she's been upset for a while now Simon. I think she was looking for a way out."

That stung me, I took a long deep breath to keep tears from coming to my eyes.

"Upset how?" Simon asked, the tone of voice saying that he didn't believe Derek.

"She's been secretive with Emma and running off doing stupid stuff and something is up between her and Jeremy. Haven't you noticed all the hushed conversations?"

"You're overreacting," Simon said. "Just relax, she'll come back around."

Footsteps and the door opened. I shoveled some pancakes into my mouth to at least try to seem like I hadn't been listening in. So Derek had given up on me… he didn't think we were mates either. He wasn't going to fight for us to be together…

"So can we hear what the vampire situation is here yet?" Derek asked when they got back to the table. Neither of them looked in my direction.

Matt cleared his throat and nodded.

"So the situation is a little complicated here but not too bad. This town is full of supernaturals of all kinds. It's a safe haven nearly free of the human world. There's been some vampires holing up in an old farm barn right on the edge of the town. We aren't here to kill them; all supernaturals are supposed to be welcomed here. As long as they behave. Our job is to scare them straight and get them in line with the town's rules. We can threaten killing them but for now we can't do that."

"What're they doing out there that's so bad?" Tori asked.

"Well first of all, even though that farm is old, it's owned by humans who live in the house on the property. These humans know about supernaturals and live there to help us stay hidden, supernaturals provide protection for them and they keep humans away from here. They are not happy having supernaturals on their property and haven't been able to get them off on their own. Also, these vampires are killing all of the town's livestock out there."

"So why don't the supernatural police talk to the vampires?" Tori asked.

"Because there isn't any," Jeremy said. "That's us."

I pictured all of us in police uniforms flashing our badges, normally that would've made me laugh but after hearing Derek. I couldn't crack a smile if I tried.


	96. Changing

**So I reread the conversation between Chloe and Simon, when she was talking about what it was like to be a wolf on her adventures. Do you guys think Simon had just been curious or do you think he wants to feel what it's like? I have a hard time picturing Simon as a werewolf lol!**

Matt left after breakfast to talk to his… bosses? I guess they'd be called his boss. They did hire us. He told us we could explore the town if we wanted but we would need to be careful.

Before I even thought about what I wanted to do today, I hoped in the downstairs shower, attempting to summon Liz while I was in there so she had a marker of where we were. Whoever these people are, I loved them for their house. First the softest beds and now a top quality shower. The pressure was so much better than the motel and it had a massage setting where the water pelted you in big globs. Which felt amazing on my sore ribs and shoulder.

When I came out, only Jeremy and Emma were still here. They sat on the living room couch.

"Not feeling up to going out?" I asked as I walked to them.

Jeremy shook his head.

"Jeremy's convinced it's happening today," Emma said.

"You're not?" I questioned how she phrased that.

She glared at me and snapped, "He's just feeling out of it because he gave me blood last night. I thas nothing to do with changing."

Jeremy, who was sweating even though it was cool in here, looked at her with surprise. I did too.

"Are you sure? That was a bit of an intense response. You're being effected too."

Emma's glare immediately dropped, "Sorry. I'm sorry."

I sat down across from the who in a rocking chair, Jeremy briefly reminded me of Derek. Scratching at his arm till he broke the skin like Derek had.

"Jeremy stop," I said. "We don't want this to be hard for Emma."

Jeremy looked down and realized how close he was to making himself bleed. He tucked his hands under his thighs.

"From personal experience," I said to them both. "He's not changing today. He's doing it now. Derek did the same stuff right beforehand."

"What?!" Jeremy shouted. "No no no no."

"Calm down, panic makes it worse," Emma laid a hand on his arm.

"Calm? You want me to calm after being told I have zero time left?!"

"Jeremy, you'll have the most ideal situation a werewolf could ask for. You're with two people who've been through it. No on else is at the house, so no distractions or problems. And you're not in a dangerous place, you're in a safe supernatural town where this stuff happens all the time."

"She's right, let's go out back before you throw up on something. It's a fenced in yard, total privacy." Emma took his hands from under him and stood him up.

She lead him to the backyard and I followed. The morning sun was still rising so it was daylight out but not too bright. We crossed the patio and went out to the grass. Jeremy sat down with a thud, shaking. We sat to his sides. Emma on his right, me on his left.

"I could always be wrong, everyone's different," I said.

As I did, Jeremy threw up. Emma kissed his hand she was holding.

"You've got this. We're right here for you."

This was new for Emma too. She'd never had someone supportive around for this before. She'd always been tortured.

Jeremy threw up again. We slid him a few feet further into the yard so he wouldn't accidentally lay in the mess.

"I'm not ready," Jeremy's muscles spasmed under his skin.

"No one every is and people make it through every day," Emma moved his hair from his eyes. "You'll make it through just fine."

Jeremy let out a gasp, his insides were starting. He let out a yell as his back started cracking and popping. Jeremy fell onto his back.

"You're gonna be ok," I kept saying to him. "Keep breathing."

I shivered as I heard his hip break. There was no way I'd ever forget the sound he made. A scream made of pure pain.

Emma held on tight to his hand, she too was telling him everything was going to be alright. It was different seeing this in the daylight, it had always happened to Derek at night. There wasn't a dark shadow passing over him, there was clear waves of hair poking out and coming in. Over and over. Emma had to let go of his hand as Jeremy twisted onto his stomach, body twisted like a pretzel. Jeremy threw up all of his breakfast. He screamed. We kept telling him it was going to be ok.

I don't know how much time had passed but Jeremy laid there a twisted half wolf half human mess. He panted and kept his eyes squeezed shut. Afraid to see our faces. Emma moved closer to his shoulder and Jeremy rolled towards her, laying his head in her lap. His ears had moved further back on his head and his hair had receded some but his face was still human. Emma gently stroked his cheek and hummed a song softly.

For a while we sat there like that, listening to Emma hum. Before Jeremy went back. His bones started snapping back to human positions and the waves of hair stopped. He didn't scream anymore he just cried.

When it was finally over and Jeremy was human, he said softly into the grass, "I love you Momma."


	97. exploring town

**Jeremy's powers were taken away from him at the Edison lab that Chloe met him at. He was originally a half demon. Though he called himself 'part demon' when he introduced himself to Chloe because one parent was human one was half demon. Though I don't recall him ever saying which was which.**

I went inside and got a change of clothes for Jeremy, It hadn't ruined his completely but they had some nice rips. A needle and thread would fix them.

I set the clothes down beside him out of the vomit zone and sat down. Jeremy was laying on the ground watching us.

"Take your time," I said softly. "I just thought you'd like some cleaner clothes."

"Thanks," he said.

Emma gently ran her fingers through his hair over and over again until his body relaxed.

"Are you ok?" She asked. "You've never spoke of your parents before."

"No," Jeremy's voice cracked like he was going to cry again.

"Shhh," she pulled him close. "It's alright. You did great."

Jeremy reached out for me too, I gave him my hand.

"Thank you guys."

Emma wiped sweat from his forehead and kissed it.

"Come on, let's get you changed and back inside. You need a shower and some rest."

Jeremy, leaving his boxers on, got changed into the new shirt and pants. We left the other clothes in the yard to be dealt with later. Emma ran in and found food for him while I helped him inside to the couch.

By the time I got Jeremy settled on the couch, Emma appeared with tomato soup.

"Soup should be easy on your stomach," she said handing it to him.

Jeremy's hands still shook a little bit as he held the bowl.

"Why didn't it work?" He asked not making eye contact.

"Sweetie it rarely does the first time. Your body needs to figure it out and that takes time. But I can promise the first is the worst. It'll get easier from here."

"Ok," he said softly and brought a steaming spoonful to his mouth.

Jeremy didn't let us baby him for long. After he had finished his soup he was feeling better, just tired. So we brought him upstairs for a nap. Their bedroom had a very different layout than mine. There were long flowing curtains around the window; two dressers, both were covered in miscellaneous items; the walls were a light pink and the floor was hard wood; along the far wall were chests overflowing with stuff.

Jeremy fell asleep almost instantly and Emma wanted to stay and keep an eye on him. She turned on a movie on his phone for something to watch. I walked back downstairs and checked the time it was almost noon. I still had half a day to do something with and I was drawing a blank. I didn't really want to go wandering the town by myself but I also didn't want to sit here by myself looking like a loser who got left behind.

So I stole a little of Tori's makeup and did my best then brushed my hair and headed out. The loser who wanders on her own was better than the loser who got left behind.

This part of town was the neighborhood. It took me maybe ten minutes to figure out where the main street was that lead to the rest of town. Once I found it, I started wandering from shop to shop. I didn't plan on buying anything really, I just wanted to see what kind of stuff they had in a supernatural town. There were clothing stores and food place like you would find anywhere else. But then I found a store that sold blank grimoires for witches and wizards to fill. A store that sold different types of magic herbs and spices and stuff. A store that sold animal remains for rituals! You name it you could buy it in this town!

The part that threw me off a lot too was that the supernaturals here all looked like humans. They didn't have talons or squid heads or walk upside down. They were normal human looking.

"Well well well," I heard behind me when I stopped at a coffee shop for a muffin.

I turned to find Larry.

"Larry," I smiled.

"Looks like someone made a full recovery," he smiled and walked up to join me in line.

"Thanks to you," I pointed out.

"What can I get you?" The barista brought my attention back to what I had been doing.

"A blueberry muffin?" I asked.

"And two black coffees," Larry added pulling out his wallet.

I tried to refuse to let him pay for me but Larry didn't take that as a possibility. He tossed me the blueberry muffin and gestured to a table off to the side. When we sat down he slid one of the coffees in front of me.

"Out exploring the town?" Larry asked.

I nodded ripping a piece off the muffin and popping it into my mouth.

"How do you like it?" He asked.

"It's a bit crazy," I admitted. "I mean there's shops here selling stuff I've never heard of. There was a whole shop selling cursed objects!"

Larry chuckled amused with me. He sipped his coffee before speaking.

"Can I ask you something?"

I nodded.

"What… are you exactly?" Larry lowered his voice. "Your eyes were blood red when you were dying and the ground was shaking. That's why we found you, because the closer we got the more it felt like a small scale earthquake. Cyan made me promise not to ask but I've got to know what can do all of that."

I took another bite from my muffin. Did I tell him the truth? What harm could come from that? He had saved my life.

"I'm an abomination," I answered. "I was born necromancer, turned werewolf by a genetically modified one, then bitten by a vampire. But had the vampire part of my brain severed so I don't feel the urge to feed."

Now it was Larry's turn to have the jaw on the floor. I don't know what he expected me to say but it wasn't that.

"You're pulling my leg," he said. "What are you really?"

I kept the same straight face.

"No," he gawked. "For real? A genetically altered tribrid?"

I nodded and finished my muffin. I grabbed the coffee to warm my fingers.

"Boy am I glad we saved your butt then," He laughed. "You're a walking miracle."

We sat talking for a while longer. I liked Larry, he made me feel good about all the crap I'd been through over the years. Like it made me special not a freak.


	98. Simon's proof

** HeyItsShaylakae I'm sorry my posting schedule is all over the place, I write when I have time. Yes, that other story was named Family. I still don't know what happened to it. And honestly I'm not sure. I think that would be fun to go all the way to that point. But I can't promise anything, there have been times where I've felt like wrapping up the story and moving on to a different one. **

After we finished our coffees, I told Larry that I should be heading back to the house. I'd been gone for a while now. He gave me his cell phone number and told me to call whenever I needed something around town. Larry knew where everything was.

"Actually I do have one question," I said as we exited to go our separate ways.

"What's that?"

"One of my friends is going through his first change and kind of freaking out. Where's the werewolf part of town? I think he could benefit from talking to other werewolves."

"How many werewolves are in your group?" Larry asked slowly.

"Four." I said. Why was that important?

Larry looked surprised, "Well you should know that werewolves are typically very… keep to themselves… its not usual for them to be living among other supernaturals. My wife and I are the only werewolves in this town. And the only reason we settled among supernaturals is because we were kicked out of our pack. So you have yourself a unique group, you're the largest pack in town."

I guess I'd forgotten about that over time, I'd been around werewolves for so long. They usually were reclusive, not wanting anything to do with nonwerewolves.

"I thought Cyan was a Djinn," I said.

Larry's eyes got big and he began laughing so hard, tears came to his eyes.

"Oh my god, oh no no, Cyan's not my wife. We'd drive each other insane. She's just a friend from work," Larry wiped his eyes.

"Sorry," I said.

Larry waved it off, "No apologies necessary. That's the funniest thing you've ever said."

We parted ways and I went back to the house. I'd forgotten to read the street name as I left earlier so it took my a while to find it. I expected to walk into a quiet house but instead I found the group minus Matt watching a movie at full volume in the living room. I covered my ears and walked upstairs to the bedrooms. This was the curse of the werewolf hearing, even up here it was so loud.

I wondered how Derek could listen to that so loud. Though he'd never known different, had he? He'd been werewolf his whole life. Maybe that's how he knew we weren't mates. He had more knowledge than me. I'd been fooling myself thinking we'd work out.

I flopped down on the bed which ended up being a bad idea. My shoulder and ribs flared and I hissed.

"Hey, you alright?" Came from the doorway, Derek had come up to check on me. "Sounded like that hurt."

"It did," I said. "But I'm fine. Sore ribs."

"Ribs?" Derek asked leaning against the door frame. "I thought you were shot in the shoulder."

I adjusted a pillow under my head. I guess we were having a conversation.

"I was, my ribs hurt from CPR," I said.

"CPR?" Derek exclaimed. "Chloe you can't. You've infected someone. Where are they?"

Here we go, overreacting Derek time.

"He was a werewolf already," I said. "How about you don't jump to conclusions when you don't have all the information. Also, excuse me? I can't? I'm sorry Derek, the next time I'm dying I'll remember to tell them not to save my life."

"Oh," Derek said. "Sorry."

He disappeared from the doorway, probably headed back downstairs or to his own room. The rest of the afternoon I browsed blogs from online magazines about my favorite directors until Simon came in.

"Hey, Matt's back. He sent me to grab you guys. Where's Derek?"

I shrugged, "How should I know? He left after I stood up for myself."

"Don't get more mad at him," Simon pleaded. "I told him not to push things, that's probably why he left."

I laughed sarcastically as I got up from the bed and started walking towards him.

"What's so funny?" Simon asked. Blocking my exit so I'd have to answer.

"That you think that's why he bailed," I said. "He bailed because he doesn't care anymore Simon. He knows we aren't meant to be. He's given up."

Simon took a step towards me, cutting me off from adding 'and maybe I have too.'

"You want proof that he cares Chloe?" Simon asked.

I nodded wondering what he was going to do.

"Fine," Simon smiled. "Then tell him about this and see how mad he gets at me. If he's mad, he cares."

"This?" I questioned. Did he mean this conversation?

Simon moved closer to me, "This." He said softer, almost a whisper, as he touched under my chin with the tips of his fingers and kissed me.

My brain refused to process what he did. I just stood there gawking. Did that really just happen again?

Simon smiled and gently tapped my forehead.

"Anyone home up there or did I break you?"

"S-Simon," I stammered. "Do you know what you've done?"

Simon nodded, "Yes. Yes I do. I'm showing you that he'll get jealous which means he still cares."

"T-That's n-not what I meant," I touched my lips. "You're infected now."

"Pshhh," Simon waved dismissively. "Please I put a protective spell on me weeks ago. I could trade blood with you and not become a werewolf."

"You're sure it'll work?" I asked, not trying to question his skills. Its just that Tori's spells had gone wacky so his might've.

Simon touched under my chin again.

"Need me to prove it again?" He smiled.

"N-no j-just say something if you feel off at all."

He nodded, removing his fingers, "I promise if you promise to tell him and see the jealousy."

Derek hadn't been jealous before when Simon and I tried dating. Would he be mad at this now?

I agreed to the terms, praying that Simon's protection spell really worked. I walked downstairs while Simon found Derek, everyone was sitting at the kitchen table. Once Simon and Derek joined, Matt began.

"Alright, I want us going in tonight. The longer we wait the worse the situation is and we are already two days behind from staying in the motel to find Liz and Kyle. Any update on that Chloe?"

"Liz is having me summon her at least once a day so she has an idea of where we are. Traveling on the other side of the veil isn't easy I guess. She's trying to find where Kyle disappeared to. Liz doesn't want to come back without him."

I couldn't believe I got all of that out without stammering. My mind was still upstairs.

Matt nodded, "Sounds good."

"Does she have any leads on how long it'll take?" Tori asked.

I shook my head. Tori sighed.


	99. love

**I saw the format issues in the last chapter too, I tried to fix them. I'm waiting for it to update, we'll see if it worked. Fingers crossed we won't be doing a Part Three story lol!**

**Also thank you so much for the compliment Thatreader2003, that means a lot!**

After Matt was done explaining the plan to us, we started preparing for dinner. Tori and Simon helped Matt get food ready while Derek was showing Emma the right way to set a table. Since Jeremy and I didn't have immediate jobs, I pulled him over to the living room.

"How are you?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Traumatized."

"You don't have to go tonight," I said. "You can stay and rest."

Jeremy shook his head, "Physically I just feel sore. I really don't mind going, it'll get my mind off today."

I set my hand on his arm, "It'll get easier, you just have to learn to relax. Its worse when you fight it."

Jeremy laughed, "Yeah you've got that right."

"I just wanted to make sure you're ok, I've never heard you call for your mom before."

Jeremy sat down on the couch, I followed.

"I didn't even know that I did until after it came out of my mouth," Jeremy shook his head. "I just kept having flashes of the last time I saw her. My mom thought I was an abomination, she didn't know about the demon side of my father until after I was around. She… my mom brought me to that research place while my father was away on work… the last thing she'd ever heard me say… was how much I hated her. I screamed it at the top of my lungs as she walked away."

"Jeremy I'm so sorry," I grabbed him and hugged him.

Jeremy hugged me back, his grip tight as he held back tears.

"Hey Matt wants you guys to-" Derek came into the living room. "Everything ok in here?"

We let go of each other, I looked at Jeremy. It was up to him if he wanted to share with Derek or not.

"Yeah," Jeremy stood and walked into the kitchen without another word.

I stood and Derek stepped forward.

"Wait," he said. "Can we talk?"

I raised an eyebrow not really in the mood. "Let me guess you eavesdropped on Simon and I and already know?"

Derek's surprise said otherwise. "Already know what?"

"That Simon and I kissed," I said.

His expression was hard to read, his face stayed calm but tense, his eyes showed a mix of surprise and hurt.

"Oh," was all he said.

Derek turned and walked back to the kitchen. He picked up the pile of utensils and started setting them by the plates. I expected some sort of reaction out of him whether it was anger or whatever. But not this nonreaction. What was I supposed to read from this?

I went over to Simon and joined him in slicing up carrots. I picked up a spare knife and gestured over to Derek with my eyes. With all the talking going on around the kitchen, no one was listening to our hushed conversation.

"You told him?" Simon asked

I nodded.

"And?"

"And this," I said. "I told him and he said oh and walked back in like this. Where's your proof now?"

"Chloe he's probably just trying not to blow up at you because he knows that'll make you angry. If he didn't even stop to think about what you jumped to concern about then he obviously isn't thinking clearly. He's focused on trying to ease off."

"That's not something he was supposed to ease off of Simon. He was supposed to blow up, show he cared, something, anything. You're wrong he doesn't care."

Simon sighed, "Let me talk to him alright?"

I shrugged, it didn't matter anymore. I had my answers.

"Chloe could you open the oven door?" Matt asked.

I set down the knife and opened the door for Matt, he slid the dish of lasagna in.

"Alright it'll take half an hour, everything else is pretty much done."

I set the timer on the stove for Matt. When I turned around Simon and Derek were gone.

**Derek's POV**

Once Matt said we had half an hour until we could eat, Simon grabbed my arm and practically yanked me out of the room. Simon wouldn't let go of me until we were standing out the front door.

"What the hell?" Simon exclaimed.

"What do you mean what the hell?" I growled. "I should be the one asking that. How could you?"

Simon shook his head and pinched his nose in frustration, "I was trying to show her that you would get mad and fight for her."

I laughed, "Why would I fight for someone willing to make out with my brother?"

Simon shoved me, "Because you love her."

I clenched my fists and warned him, "Simon don't do that."

"Or what?" He asked. "Or you'll finally get angry and show Chloe some emotion?"

I growled and shoved him back.

"Or I'll tell Chloe," I said.

"Good," Simon threw his hands up. "Go tell her how you feel."

I shook my head, "I meant or I'll tell Chloe the truth about you." I stepped closer getting in Simon's face. "You never stopped liking her even after you two dated. You're orchestrating this whole thing to get her. You take advantage of our fight and get us to stop talking. Then you convince me to stop being around her AND convinced me that it was ok for you two to sleep together. You're in love with her Simon admit it."

Simon just stared at me.

"You really think I broke you two up?" He asked slowly, hurt by the accusation.

"Admit it," I repeated growling.

"You know I love Chloe," Simon said. "But I'd never break you two up. I've been trying to help."

"Some help you've been," I said. "She's wrapped around your finger now." I opened the front door. "Make sure you treat her right." I said and slammed the door behind me.


	100. Chapter 100

**Chloe's POV**

We piled into the car to head out to where the vampires were staying.

"There's something I don't understand," Tori said. "Vampires are supposed to be like reclusive, keep to themselves, right?"

Matt nodded.

"So then why is a group of them coming to a town of supernatural creatures?" She asked. "They won't get along with anyone."

She actually had a valid point like Larry said with the werewolves. They normally don't come around places like this full of other species.

"They might've been kicked out of their pack," I said. "That's what happened to Larry."

"Who's Larry? What did he do?" Jeremy was curious.

I shrugged to the what did he do part.

"One of the people who helped Chloe out," Matt answered.

Everyone kept chatting as we drove but I sort of tuned it out after that. I looked over to Simon and Derek who were sitting in front of me. Simon was fidgety and worried about something. Derek was even, not showing any specific emotion I could see. I wondered what went down between them, neither had said much during dinner.

I pulled out my phone and texted Simon 'what's wrong?' Simon felt his phone buzz and took it out of his pocket. He texted me back 'talk later.'

When we arrived at the farm it was getting dark outside. We drove down the driveway slowly. There were no lights on in the farmhouse. Matt turned the car off as we got to the end of the driveway and pointed in the direction of the barn. It was maybe two acres back.

Everyone got out and we started walking towards the barn with Matt in the lead. I grabbed Simon's hand and made him hang back so we took up the rear of the group.

"No not later," I whispered. "Now."

I knew Derek would be able to hear me even if I whispered but I had to know now. Simon squeezed my hand and sighed knowing I wouldn't stop asking.

"He accused me of being the reason you two aren't together," Simon whispered. "That I did it to you guys on purpose."

"But you wouldn't."

"Does that matter? He's made up his mind."

"About?"

Simon looked down at our hands still together then the back of Derek's head.

"That you're mine," he whispered. "Off limits to him."

Thankfully we were at the barn doors now so I didn't have to address that right now because I did not know how. Matt knocked on the barn door as he slid it open. A lantern in the middle of the straw covered floor was the main source of lighting besides a strand of clear Christmas lights twisted around a support beam.

Sometimes it was easy to forget what Matt was half demon since we never saw his demon side. When he stepped into the light and I saw his eyes turn red I jumped.

"Excuse me," Matt said as he stepped into the barn. "We are here to speak with the vampires."

Two blond women, probably in their late twenties and a bald man that I couldn't place an age on because of the shadow across him, stepped forwards from the horse stalls.

"What do you want?" The man spat.

We waited in the doorway like Matt said too. He was to do the talking. We were here for strength in numbers and to block the exit. Matt walked into the light more as the man stepped forward. Not only was Matt's eyes red but something was slithering under his skin. Little pinkish red streaks appeared and disappeared from just under the surface of his skin.

"We are here on behalf of the supernatural community," Matt said. "In case weren't aware, you are breaking our rules. This human property is to remain supernatural free and you're killing the town's only livestock."

"I'm not _in _the community so why do I have to abide by their rules?" He asked.

"Because you are in the community actually. These humans belong to it. We protect them."

The man rolled his eyes.

The taller of the girls giggled and I thought she was mocking Matt until I followed her gaze to Derek. She was checking him out.

"The livestocks already dead, what are you going to do about that?" The man teased.

Matt shrugged, "That's not my department. My job is to tell you to get off this property. You either need to leave this area or come into town. We won't tolerate vampires exposing everything that's been built here." Matt paused then added. "You have until sunrise to decide. Please don't make this turn violent."

The man scanned all of us not speaking. He was probably sizing up his chances of winning a fight. Matt flicked a business card his way, it landed in the straw by his feet. I swore I saw a bloody batman symbol on it.

"Feel free to call if you need help finding a place in town," Matt said. "Otherwise have a safe trip."

The man looked down at the car then back at Matt. We waited for him to make a move but he didn't. He stood very still, arms crossed.

Matt had told us earlier never to turn our backs on the vampires. Someone always needed to be watching them. Without breaking eye contact with the vampire, Matt waved a hand towards us. We exited and Matt waited one more moment for the vampire to say or do something. When he didn't, Matt exited and slid the barn door shut.

He gestured to a nearby tree and disappeared. Matt planned on staying and making sure the human family wasn't harmed for our showing up. We didn't need all of us staking out the property so the rest of us climbed back into the car and Derek drove us back. Really Matt didn't need us at all for this trip. We didn't do anything but add numbers.

At first I didn't like the idea of Matt staying behind alone but I knew that was stupid to worry about. He could easily take on the three vampires.

The whole ride back, Tori and Emma went on and on about Matt's appearance and they tried to figure out what kind of demon he was. I tuned it out, thinking about what Simon said.


	101. Talks

**Thank you guys for all the congrats! That means so much! **

**It's moments like this that make me wonder if I should wrap up the story because two hundred chapters is a lot. But you guys seem to enjoy it so much I don't want to stop lol!**

**Though I think I jinxed myself with a previous authors note because I'm getting the email notifications of reviews but they aren't showing up online. The same issues that made me move to a part two story. I'm going to wait and see if the issue fixes itself before moving to a part three.**

**Also, I wouldn't say that the direction of the story is up to me lol! I take every review in consideration. Don't worry about it, they will be back together. Though I won't spoil when, I think we can tell there might be a detour for a bit first.**

**Simon's POV**

When we arrived back at the house Chloe sped inside before I could grab her so I grabbed Derek before he stepped in.

"What?" He growled. "You want to get smacked this time instead?"

Keeping my voice calm and even I said, "I don't get it Derek. If you think I created this whole mess why don't you go talk to Chloe then? Isn't one of the things I said not to do was talk to her? So if you went in there right now and talked to her it would 'foil my plans' to get her?"

Derek sighed, "I overreacted didn't I? You wouldn't be telling me to talk to her if you were trying to get her."

"Yeah," I nodded and smiled. "Hell you know I like her, I was the first of the two of us to admit that. But I'd never purposefully break you two up. You should know that."

"I'm sorry," Derek rubbed his face with his hands. "Its my fault this got so out of control."

I shrugged, "Eh no I'd argue with that. Chloe isn't fighting for you either because she's convinced you guys aren't mates. I guess Jeremy and Emma had an a-ha moment and she realized you two never did."

Derek rolled his eyes, "First of all that mate stuff is crap. Secondly why does it matter? We were happy shouldn't that be enough?"

I patted him on the shoulder and shook my head, "That's a great attitude to have when you're talking to her."

"Sorry, you're right."

Derek stepped in and I followed.

**Chloe's POV**

Tori followed me upstairs.

"Anything from Liz?" She asked as we reached the top of the stairs.

I shook my head, "No but you wouldn't follow me all the way up here just to ask that. What do you want?"

Tori smirked, "You're getting good. Alright. I want to know the details."

She lead me to her room where no one should intrude.

"Details of?"

"Of you and the boys. Come on I have no one to talk boys with. You and Derek are obviously on the outs and Simon's in. What's up with that? Why the brother swap?"

I gawked at her, brother swap?! I was unconscious when they decided Simon was taking my room, I didn't have a vote in that.

"Um," I said. "Derek refused to help me with my change as you know. And I was upset about that and needed space and things just sort of spiraled. Ever since Emma came out of her shell, I'm not so sure Derek and I were meant to last."

"What like he has a thing for Emma?" Tori asked sitting down on her bed.

I shook my head sitting down too.

"No I've been comparing their relationship to our a lot and they seem happier."

Tori rolled her eyes, "So you two quit it because those two are cuter than you two? Chloe that's just stupid. Though I do think Simon's a more stable choice."

"Who said I was choosing Simon?" I asked.

"You two and your actions. Don't think I didn't see you holding hands tonight."

"Let me guess," I said. "You also heard about the kiss too then."

Tori's eyes went wide before I could backtrack and explain.

"What?! No!" She shouted.

"Hate to interrupt," Derek knocked on the wall. We'd left the door open. "But do you have a moment Chloe?"

Tori shoved me towards him before I could think of an answer.

"Yes she does, feel free to use here," she scooted out past Derek. I guessed she wasn't going far though. Tori was notorious for eavesdropping on drama.

"Chloe," he began. "Things kind of spiraled. Can we talk?"

I nodded.

"Look, you know I'm not good at this stuff but um I'm sorry. I should've paid more attention to you, I should've noticed that you were distressed. I of all people should have seen the signs and known you needed help with changing. You have helped me with that more times than I can count and I couldn't be bothered to look up from a textbook."

I didn't know what to respond with to be honest, I couldn't just say that it was ok.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness," he said.

"Then what are you asking for?" I asked.

"Nothing just wanted to talk to you," Derek said.

"So you're not even going to ask if we're still a thing?"

Derek shook his head, "Simon told me what you've been thinking lately and I think it would be good for you to be able to go out and explore more. I think you've got it wrong Chloe. Mate isn't something you rush into like they did, it's something you discover with time. And you won't know if this is real if it's all you get to know. Am I making any sense?"

I nodded, "You're saying that I need to step back and see what I want before I decide on us."

"Yeah, basically."

"Are you stepping back to find out too or is it just me?" I asked.

Derek chuckled, "I mean the only other option here is Tori so I think I'm alright."

I smiled back, "I don't know, that one vampire was checking you out tonight. If they come to town you should get her number."

I liked talking and joking with Derek again and I liked his idea of just being friends for a little while. I could make sure that we were really meant to be without any more hurt feelings.

"Oh," he looked surprised. "Uh I'm not sure a vampires a good idea when we work with a vampire hunter."

I rolled my eyes, "Excuses."

Simon popped in the door this time.

"I see smiles," he said. "You two ok?"

"Depends on what you mean," Derek said. "Are we all good between us? Yes. Are we back together? No."

"Uh what?" Simon looked at both of us.

"Derek suggested that if I wasn't confident in us being mates I should take the time to find out instead of jumping to a conclusion."

"So that means you're mine for the taking until you come to your senses," Simon teased.

Derek gave him a look but I thought it was funny.


	102. Chapter 102

**Simon's POV**

I'm not as light a sleeper as Derek's always been but I could be easy to wake when someone did something to me.

Chloe kept rolling around in her sleep and knocking me with her elbows. If she didn't find a comfortable position soon, I'd never get to sleep tonight.

I guess it wasn't that bad because if Matt called needing help I could be there right away. But I doubted he would, he texted about two hours ago that the vampires appeared to be packing their things. I think we were all okay with the confrontation going easy. We had enough to deal with between Chloe and Derek, finding Liz and Kyle, and Jeremy changing.

Though I'm not sure how many knew about that last one. I only did because I found the torn vomity clothes outside. I didn't say anything about it, from what I've seen the less attention during that the better.

I looked over at Chloe and brushed her hair from her eyes, thinking about how worried she was for me. She thinks I might turn werewolf like her. I know my magic isn't great anymore but protection spells really aren't that hard. I'm fine. Its sweet of her to care so much. Derek hadn't even mentioned the possibility yet. I wondered if it'd ever crossed his mind. Not that I wanted a big lecture from him on taking chances. But he was having trouble lately showing people he cared.

I checked the clock, it was three am. I needed to try to sleep again, hopefully this time Chloe let me stay asleep.

**Chloe's POV**

I jumped awake when I heard the front door close. I got up from the bed and went to the window, the morning light blinded me as I moved the curtain. My eyes adjusted in time for me to see a white pick up truck backing out of the driveway.

Footsteps in the kitchen drew my attention back into the house. That had to be Matt.

I crept out of my room and to the stairs. The fridge door shut. The steps creaked under my foot as I made my way down the stairs. I froze, what if that wasn't Matt and I had just given myself away.

"Just me," Matt's voice came from the kitchen.

I breathed a sigh of relief and came down the rest of the way.

"Did you hitchhike?" I asked. "You could've called us."

Matt, holding the jug of orange juice in one hand and a glass in the other, shook his head. He looked human again, no more red eyes or things under his skin.

"That was the humans from the farm that gave me a ride, as a thank you I guess."

"So the vampires are gone?"

Matt nodded and shrugged, "They decided to give town a try first before leaving. I'm meeting with the town council in an hour to figure out where they can stay."

I shook my head.

"What?" He set the jug down.

"Don't you ever sleep?" I asked.

Matt chuckled, "I've gone long periods of time without sleep before. It's just part of the job."

"But you have us, let one of us go so you can sleep."

Footsteps came down the stairs before Matt answered me. I turned to see Jeremy and Emma. Both of them looked surprised to see anyone else awake.

"Everything alright? You don't look so hot Jeremy," Matt said.

Jeremy nodded, "Yeah we just um I just…"

Matt took a sip of his juice and set the glass down on the counter while Jeremy stammered looking for an excuse.

"You don't need to make up a lie," Matt said. "Go on, be safe."

Jeremy and Emma disappeared out the door to the backyard. I looked at Matt.

"I'm not going to stop you from helping if that's what you're waiting for," Matt said.

"How did you know? Why didn't you offer to help?"

Matt opened the cupboard and started gathering things to make breakfast.

"I think I've been around werewolves long enough to notice the signs and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want a crowd. You and Emma got this, go."

I nodded and went out back and found them. Jeremy was already changing. I knelt down beside him and took his hand.

"We came looking for you but you weren't in your room," Emma said.

She didn't want me to feel like they had decided to do this without me. Jeremy cried out as bones started cracking and Emma hummed softly while wiping sweat from his forehead. It was the same tune as last time, I wondered where it was from but was not the time to ask.

I told Jeremy everything would be ok, he just needed to keep breathing. Relaxing wasn't an easy thing to do during changing but Jeremy was trying his best to stay calm. He didn't fight it this time which was making it easier. He wasn't throwing up.

Jeremy was still human when it was all over with. He laid there with his fingers dug into the dirt.

"I know you might now want to," I said. "But maybe you should try to eat something. Matt was starting breakfast when I came out."

"I just want to sleep," Jeremy whispered closing his eyes.

"You can't sleep out here silly," Emma whispered.

"Five minutes," Jeremy said already falling asleep.

"Why don't you go have breakfast," I said to Emma. "I can stay with him."

Sleeping outside probably wasn't the most comfortable idea but Jeremy wasn't going anywhere. Emma hesitated but nodded, I could hear her stomach growling. She gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and went inside.

I gently lifted Jeremy's head and slid his shirt under it as a makeshift pillow.

After probably ten minutes or so I tapped Jeremy on the shoulder.

"Wake up," I said. "You should sleep in bed."

"I am," he mumbled.

I poked Jeremy in the ear so he opened his eyes.

"Oh," he said seeing the grass.

He was still a little shaky so I helped him stand and then put his arm over my shoulder to walk him inside. Jeremy was burning up so I left his shirt behind, he wouldn't need it until he cooled off.

We slipped past everyone and up to the rooms. I laid Jeremy down on his bed and pulled the blanket up beside him so he could easily grab it later if he wanted.

Jeremy grabbed my hand as I turned to leave.

"Don't," he said.

"Don't what?"

"Leave."

I sat down beside him until he fell back asleep.


	103. Chapter 103

When I came back downstairs, everyone but Simon was awake and eating breakfast. I hesitated when I saw the open seat was beside Derek. Derek looked up at me from his cereal and smiled. He nodded at the seat, saying it was okay.

I sat down and politely smiled.

"Morning," he pushed the plate of bacon my way.

"Good morning," I said as I grabbed a piece.

"Decided on us yet?" He asked.

It took me a moment to realize he was teasing. I smiled.

"I think I've got competition," I attempted to tease back. "Matt says the vampires are coming to town so that girls going to come looking for you."

Tori's gaze shot up from her breakfast.

"Vampires and werewolves make hot couples," she said. When she saw our confused expressions she continued, "Haven't you ever seen those movies? What about The Vampire Diaries? Tyler and Caroline."

Tori made a heart with her hands and placed it over her chest.

I couldn't help myself I started laughing. I'd never seen Tori geek out over a show before. She always poked fun at us when we did it.

Derek joined in with, "So you're saying I should start keeping a diary?"

Emma laughed the hardest out of all of us.

Once it died down I turned my attention to Matt, "Hey have you decided who to send yet?"

Matt rolled his eyes smiling, "I'm fine Chloe."

"What's she talking about?" Tori asked.

"I've got to leave soon to help figure out where the vampires are staying and Chloe doesn't want me to go," Matt said. "She wants me to sleep."

They all started nodding in agreement with me.

"You probably should get some rest," Derek said. "I could go."

"I could too," Emma said. "I probably know what they need better than most."

Matt raised his hands in defense, "Alright alright I cave. You both can go. Just be careful Emma, I don't know how people around here would react to a hybrid experiment."

Emma nodded. Matt scribbled an address down on a sheet of paper and handed it to Derek.

"I know you guys don't technically have licenses," he said. "But take the car or else that's going to be a 45 minute walk."

That didn't seem to bother Derek.

"When do we need to be there by?" He asked.

"In 20 minutes," Matt sipped a cup of coffee.

Matt left to go sleep. Derek and Emma finished their breakfasts and ran upstairs to change. I felt a twinge of jealousy that they were off doing stuff together again.

"Seat taken?" Simon had appeared behind Derek's empty chair.

I shook my head. Simon sat.

"Why'd you sleep in so late?" I asked.

"You were a menace last night," Simon smiled as he grabbed food. "You kept me up until like 3 am."

"Sorry," I apologized.

"You better be," Tori teased. "Simon desperately needs beauty sleep."

"Hey!" Simon flicked a piece of bacon at her.

I laughed.

After breakfast we tried to figure out what we were going to do with our day. We were probably sticking around until these vampires were settled into town so we needed to find something to do with ourselves in the meantime. I wondered if I should see if Larry was free, I had questions I wanted to ask him.

"Heard from Liz?" Tori popped in the bathroom doorway as I brushed my teeth.

I shook my head, "I can try to summon her if you want."

Tori nodded and I summoned Liz. I figured she wouldn't show but when I looked in the mirror she was standing behind me.

"Hi," Liz smiled.

"She's here," I said to Tori.

Tori followed my gaze to where Liz was and smiled.

"Liz can you take a day off searching for Kyle and hang out with me? I found lots of pens and paper so we can talk."

Liz looked at me sad, "She doesn't want you to hang with us?"

I shrugged.

"What's she saying?" Tori asked.

Liz nodded.

"She said sure" I told Tori.

Tori's smile grew and she darted to her room telling Liz to follow. Liz smiled at me apologetically and followed. It really wasn't that big of a deal to me since I hadn't planned on spending time with Tori today.

I rinsed off my toothbrush and grabbed my comb to brush my hair.

"It sounds like you're stuck hanging with me today," Simon came in with his toothbrush. "Got anything in mind?"

I shrugged, "I thought about texting Larry, the werewolf who saved me, I thought he might have some answers."

Through a mouthful of toothpaste foam, Simon asked, "Can I come?"

I smiled trying not to laugh at his goofiness, "Of course."

So I texted Larry who was thrilled to meet with me again. He told us to meet up at the café he took me that night. Simon and I got dressed and headed that way.

Stepping into the café, I felt a bit of anxiety. I avoided sitting at the table that I did last time.

"You ok?" Simon asked.

I nodded, "Just having a flashback. I'm fine."

A woman approached our table, at first glance she looked normal but then I realized she had more arms than a normal person. Three on each side. And her skin had a purple tint to it matching her purple eyes.

"It's not polite to stare," she teased. "I recognize you. You're that werewolf girl aren't you? Cyan brought you in all bloody. Oh what a mess to clean up."

I nodded, "Sorry about that."

She waved it off with her lower left hand.

"Can I get you two anything?"

We asked for waters and she brought them over right away. She told us to wave for her if we needed anything else and then walked to a different table.

"What in the world is she?" Simon leaned towards me and asked. "I've never seen that before."

I shrugged, "No idea."

Larry and Cyan showed up a few minutes later and got coffees from the six armed woman.

"Who's this handsome fellow?" Larry looked Simon over. "You must be the boyfriend. Darren right? No. David?"

"Simon actually," Simon said

Cyan leaned forward interested.

"I don't believe I've heard about you," she said. "How long have you been werewolf?"

Simon watched the moving tattoos on her arms.

"Never actually. I do the magic stuff."

I couldn't help but snort when Simon said never. He was bound to start showing signs soon.

Larry raised an eyebrow at me, "What was that for?"

I looked to Simon, "You want to tell or should I?"

Simon sipped his water and rolled his eyes. He set his water down and laid his arm across the back of my chair.

"Chloe thinks that I just haven't started showing signs of being a werewolf yet," Simon said.

Larry and Cyan looked puzzled.

"How could you grow up werewolf and not show signs?" Larry asked.

Simon shook his head, "No. Here's what happened. Her and my brother had a bit of a fight because she thinks they aren't mates. So to prove that he cares, I kissed her so he would get worked up about it. But that's how Chloe got infected with the werewolf gene. The genetic modifications made it a lot easier to infect others. So now she thinks that I've caught it even though I had a protection spell on me."

Larry and Cyan looked at each other for a moment.

"Sounds like you're screwed," Cyan said.

Larry rolled his eyes, "You're such a pessimist. If he did a protection spell, he's fine."

"Is he though?" I asked.

"How long before you showed signs?" Cyan asked me.

I thought back, "Jeremy showed them after a few days. I showed them after like a week or two? I don't remember really."

"Well," Larry leaned back in his seat. "If its done then its done. Nothing you can do about it."

I wanted to argue with that because that wasn't true. The Edison Group had taken powers from us before.

The six arm woman came to our table and refilled our drinks. She asked if we wanted anything to eat since it was nearing lunchtime. We said yes and started looking over the menu.


	104. Big Meeting

I had a gut feeling that Larry was going to pay again so I kept my order small. I stuck with my water and got a sandwich.

"If you don't mind my asking, why don't you think you and the werewolf are mates?" Larry asked.

I shrugged, "I want to believe we are. But he doesn't seem to care as much as he used to."

Cyan rolled her eyes, "People are not constant. They change."

"Cyan," Larry glared at her for a moment before rephrasing what she said. "She means that he went from being a lone wolf to a pack leader. Change in territory means change in attitude. He feels the need to look out for all now not just you."

Simon playfully elbowed me, "See I told you he's just been off and you both were over reacting."

I looked into Simon's eyes and found myself thinking about how he would never change on me. Simon was consistent through all we'd been through. He'd never turn his back on me.

**Derek's POV**

We showed up just in time and rushed inside the building. It had to be a city hall or something because the floors were marble and there were old expensive looking antiques lining the walls in glass boxes.

A woman with a clipboard approached us.

"You two must be the pair Mr. Flint sent."

We nodded.

"Follow me into the conference room," she said.

When she turned around I noticed a black and brown cat tail. Was she a cat person?

She led us down the right hallway and I noticed but two vampire women sitting on a bench. I tried not to make eye contact as we walked through the door next to them.

The conference room wasn't as impressive as the entry. A large mahogany table took up the middle of the room with three chairs on each side and one at the head. All but two chairs were full. We sat down. The wall behind us was blank, the wall opposite had a painting of some war.

The man at the head of the table nodded at us.

"You two are filling in for Flint today," he said. A statement not a question.

Everyone but us and the vampire man were in suits. I felt really underdressed being in jeans and a t-shirt.

The man at the head of the table nodded to the man on my left. He snatched up his pen and hunched over a notepad.

"Gentlemen," The man stood up from his chair. The man with the pen frantically wrote everything that was said. "And lady, excuse me." He nodded apologetically to Emma. "We are here today to discuss a living situation for a small vampire nest. Let us begin by introducing ourselves for the record keeper. My name is Rick. I am in charge of housing in this town."

He sat down and the man to Rick's left stood.

"I am Dr. Hart. I represent those in charge of food supply to this town."

The vampire stood next. He tried to come across as confident but his eyes gave away he was nervous.

"I represent the vampires," he sat back down.

"Your name?" Rick asked.

"I lost my real name a century ago. I've gone by V ever since."

The last guy stood, straightening his tie as he spoke, "I am Samuel. I am representing the Security Council."

Now it was Emma's turn. She shook from nerves. I gave her a soft smile and stood. We didn't need her panicking and changing right now.

"My name's Derek and this is Emma. We're here on behalf of Flint."

I sat back down and Emma reached for my hand under the table to give me a quick grateful squeeze.

"Let us begin," Rick gestured to V. "Tell us why you came."

V's expression turned angry, " 'Flint' " V used air quotes. "Or should I say Batman. Threatened my girls and I. Either we abide by the rules or get out of dodge. I figure if we run; he kills us. Better to stay here where everyone is watching and he can't make a move."

"How long has it been since you three lived as part of a society? Rick asked.

"Longer than I can remember for me," V said. "But it's only been about seven years for the girls."

"These questions are a waste of time," Samuel slammed a fist on the table.

"I beg to differ," Rick remained calm. "We need to know if he can be a part of the community or if he'll cause problems."

"There won't be anymore problems," V said.

"How can you guarantee us you won't hurt people?" I asked.

V didn't stop too think before answering.

"I don't know how to prove it other than give us a chance," V said.

"Dr. Hart way in please," Rick said.

"I am not here to be concerned about security. That's Samuel's job. My concern is food supply, not only because he took out our livestock but feeding the three of them. Where do I get blood from? How much? How often? Stealing from blood banks is risking getting all of us exposed and we will not hurt humans."

I elbowed Emma to weigh in.

"Well um the best choice is animals probably." She spoke up. "You kill them to feed the people of this town so just give them the blood of the animals."

V rolled his eyes, "I'd rather leave than live off animals. They are disgusting."

Emma shrugged and said exactly what she shouldn't have.

"It's not that bad honestly, just try it."

Anger flared in V's eyes and he got to his feet.

"You let this stupid little vampire in town with no problem but I get the third degree!" He shouted at Rick.

Rick got to his feet as well.

"Sit down V before we have a problem. She is not one of you."

V did not calm down, "How does she know what animal blood tastes like then? Hm?"

Rick turned to Emma and I.

"Miss, what species are you?"

Emma's gaze wouldn't lift from the table, she knew she'd messed up and she was hiding in her shell.

"Hybrid," she said softly.

V nearly exploded, "You are letting a hybrid abomination stay here?! Why is she not getting this treatment?"

"Sit down!" Rick finally raised his voice at V. "Frankly because we weren't aware AND she hasn't seemed to cause us a problem yet. If she can sustain herself off livestock blood then you will do the same if you choose to stay here. The council will give you an address to stay at by end of day. Now leave before we decide you can't handle society life and wipe your memory of this town's existence."

V collected his jacket from the back of the chair and left the conference room. I could hear the arms of the chair starting to splinter under Emma's panic grip.

"Hey," I grabbed her hands off the chair so she was squeezing my hands instead and tried to make light of the situation. She didn't need to be yelled at in this state. "We don't have the money to replace the chair, don't break it."

"Flint should have told us he was bringing a hybrid along with him," Samuel said.

"She hasn't hurt anyone, this is her first time leaving the home we're staying in," I defended her.

"Relax everyone," Rick sat back down. "Miss Emma is in no trouble. She is a guest in our town and she's followed our rules thus far."

Emma's death grip started to loosen when she heard she wasn't in trouble but she didn't raise her gaze.

"We just thought she would have more insight than the rest of us into what these vampires need," I said.

Rick and Dr. Hart nodded. Having insight would be helpful into making sure they found the right living accommodations for them.


	105. Let me love you

**I'm sorry I took so long with this chapter posting guys. I honestly couldn't figure out how I wanted this chapter to go so I wrote version after version of it. I still don't think it's what I wanted but I couldn't keep you guys waiting, I felt bad.**

**Oh also, I thought the last chapter had enough stuff going on so I didn't include character description of the new guys. I figured it would be making things too descriptive. But if you guys wanted them I can include it somewhere.**

**Chloe's POV**

Simon and I were walking home. Could I call it home? Or just the place we're staying? Anyway, we left because Larry had to go work. I wondered what job he had that worked such odd hours, I should ask next time I see him.

"So those two were the ones to save you," Simon said as we turned a corner.

I nodded.

"How did you survive a Djinn touching you? Did she have magic gloves?"

I shook my head, "She didn't touch me, she was driving."

"Chloe," Simon smiled. "Your life is awesome. Djinn are pretty rare and you were saved by one. What on earth are the chances!"

"In a town of supernaturals I'd say my chances are alright," I teased.

"Fair enough," Simon nodded.

We were about to cross a crosswalk when a car stopped in front of us. There was a glare across the window so we weren't able to see the driver. Simon grabbed my arm pulling me behind him as the window rolled down. Derek and Emma waved at us.

"Need a lift?" Derek asked.

We climbed in the back seat.

"You scared us," Simon jokingly glared at him.

Derek rolled his eyes with a smirk, "It's not like we haven't had this car forever or spent days in it or anything."

"I think we were a little more focused on the window glare burning our eyes out," I smiled. "How did the meeting go?"

Derek glanced over to Emma before answering.

"That vampire dude is bound to be trouble but they let him stay. We got an apartment for them on the north side of town."

"Are they in trouble for all the animals they killed?" Simon asked.

Emma shook her head, "If they cooperate, it'll be 'forgiven.' They will need to work off the debt that's all."

"They try their best here to keep things civil and low profile," Derek said. "They prefer people work off a debt by doing things that benefit the town than putting supernatural beings in jail cells."

Simon smirked at the mention of jails.

"They'd have to build the most impenetrable building that ever existed," he said. "A building that thwarts the escape attempts of every type of supernatural creature at the same time."

We pulled into the driveway and got out. Derek gently grabbed my wrist and pulled me aside as the other two walked inside. Simon hesitated to walk in when he saw Derek holding onto me. He probably thought Derek was going to chew me out for something. I nodded that it was ok and he went in.

He let go of me and I leaned against the railing and looked at Derek. I don't know what I had expected because I hadn't done anything to be yelled at for, but it wasn't what I saw. He rocked back on his heels, put his hands in his pocket and took them back out. I waited for him to speak first.

"So," he said. Then paused. Then continued. "So uh how was your date with Simon?"

I couldn't help but smile and try not to laugh.

"We met up with Larry and Cyan. It wasn't a date. I wanted to talk to them and Simon wanted to tag along to get out of the house."

Derek seemed surprised but I swore he looked relieved too.

"When is he taking you out then?" Derek asked.

I smiled at him again, "He isn't Derek. We're just friends. You think I'd leave you for your brother?"

"Well you did do that to him," Derek shrugged.

Alright he had a point there, I did sort of break things off with Simon and fall for his brother.

"Derek I'm not going to do that,' I sighed.

He waited a minute before responding.

"So does that mean we…" he trailed off as a breeze gently blow by a familiar scent. "What's that?"

"Jeremy," I said. "He must've tried to change again."

Derek's expression turned concerned but he shook it off.

"What was that look for?" I asked.

Derek didn't say anything so I waited.

"Once he fully turns he's going to challenge me for leadership," Derek crossed his arms.

"Isn't Matt in charge though?" I asked.

Derek rolled his eyes, "I'm in charge of us werewolves."

"Jeremy's half your size you have nothing to worry about," I pointed out.

Derek shifted his feet, "It's not that, it's our whole pack. Emma's still really fragile, she nearly had a panic attack at the meeting just introducing herself. How would she react to a fight for dominance? And you, I'm losing you. What're you going to think of me if Jeremy gets hurt? I saw the look on your face that night I killed Liam."

Ok I needed to address the losing me comment but I had something else to say first.

"And Simon?" I said.

Derek stopped shifting and looked at me straight in the eyes.

"He's part of my pack but he's not a werewolf. He wouldn't hate me the way you guys would."

I adjusted how I was leaning against the railing because it was starting to make my lower back hurt.

"Are you sure?" I asked while I moved. "Are you that confident in his protection spell?"

Derek had his suspicious eyes now, "What're you getting at?"

"He had a protection spell on himself when he kissed me Derek. But how do we know how well his magic works? It's not that powerful anymore. He could've been infected."

Derek opened his mouth to argue then shut it then opened it again. It really hadn't occurred to him that this was a possibility.

"I'm going to kill him," Derek finally said and stepped towards the door.

I quickly got in between Derek and the door.

"I've talked to him already, he's going to speak up if he notices anything going on."

"Get out of my way," Derek growled.

"No," I said, it came out a bit more sassy than I intended. "Answer something for me first. Why would you say you're losing me?"

"Because we broke up," he said. "Because you're hesitant to be around me or talk to me. Because you won't tell me important things anymore."

Derek balled his hands into fists trying to calm down. I stepped closer to him noticing the subtle shake in his shoulders. He was going to change if he didn't calm down.

"I'm hesitant only because we broke up and I don't know what's ok to say or do. I didn't tell you about Simon because you should've been the first to figure out that it could happen. And I didn't want to break up, we had a spat that spun way out of control because we sometimes don't communicate very well."

Before he could respond, I put my arms around him and hugged him. Derek stood there like a statue so I continued to hug until I could feel him relax. Arms still around, I looked up at him, poking his chest with my chin.

"Relax," I said. "You probably don't want to change in front of the house."

Derek looked sad, he looked over at the grass instead of at me.

"Why are you helping me after all I've done?"

"All you've done?" I questioned.

"I didn't help you with yours, why help me?"

I rolled my eyes even though he didn't see it, "Derek if we all held the past against each other we'd all go insane. Just let me love you."

The significance of my last sentence didn't hit me as I said it. I just watched his fists open and relax and listened to his heart beat slow down.


	106. Emma

"Let's go inside," I let go of Derek. "As long as you promise not to go after Simon."

Derek just looked at me.

"What?" I asked. "Lecture him when he's in the clear, not now."

"You don't realize what you just said, do you?" Derek asked slowly. "You said you love me."

I nodded, "I know."

"Chloe if there is such a thing as mates, I'd have to say unconsciously admitting love would be a mate thing."

Now I understood the impact.

"Oh," I laughed nervously. "You're probably right."

Derek reached to run his fingers through my hair but I stepped back.

"Why are you nervous all the sudden?" He asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "It's probably not a good thing to admit to your ex that you still love them."

"Only if he didn't love you back," Derek said. "And you know I'll never stop loving you."

"We should go inside," I said quickly as I turned and opened the door.

"Chloe," Derek sighed and followed me in.

I raced over to the bathroom and locked myself in, turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face. Why was I freaking out all the sudden? We were patching things up and I ruined it for no reason.

A knock on the door made me jump.

"Chloe?" Emma said. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," I answered.

Emma must not have been convinced by my I'm fine because she tried the doorknob.

"Chloe let me in."

I unlocked the door and she stepped in, shutting the door behind her.

"You heard?" I asked.

Emma nodded, "The window was open. Chloe, why'd you freak out? You confirmed what you wanted to about you guys."

I stood there with my mouth open for a minute. The only sound was the faucet still running.

"Alright," she said and turned the faucet on high to hide our conversation from prying ears. "If I tell you a secret, will you tell me why you freaked?"

I nodded even though I didn't really know why I acted that way.

Emma closed her eyes and relaxed, I hadn't even noticed that she was tense before. Her fangs poked through and her eyes looked kind of red. She'd been holding back her vampire side.

"I'm starving," she said. "I haven't had blood in so long. I've been telling them that I've been sneaking out and going after small game but I haven't. I'm starving."

"Emma why?" I felt terrible for getting so wrapped up in my own drama that I hadn't noticed she was starving. "We could find some small animals easy."

She shrugged, "I can't bear the thought of killing something innocent."

"Then we make sure you don't kill it," I smiled reassuringly. "It'll be alright."

Emma brushed it off and made her fangs retract.

"You're turn to share," she said.

"I was hoping you'd forget," I chuckled. "I don't really know. I guess maybe I thought it'd take more time to figure it out."

"You're upset because you figured it out soon?" Emma didn't understand.

I shrugged, "Not upset, I think I was ok with having more time."

"If you're not upset then you're probably scared," Emma said. "You're scared of being happy with him. Cause whenever things settle down and you're happy, something happens. Whether it's a fight or someone getting kidnapped."

She was right. Something always seemed to happen to us whenever things we starting to go our way.

"How'd you know? I didn't even think about that."

Emma smiled and gestured to herself, "You're looking at the queen of something happening every time she caught a break."

I chuckled, "I think you've got competition for queen."

Emma laughed too.

"Come on, you think you can prevent me from killing? Prove it."

I turned off the faucet and we stepped out in time to see a shadow pass by the bottom of the stairs. I looked at Emma to see if she saw it too.

"Did you?" I started.

She nodded and started walking that way. I followed her up the stairs, the shadow passed her bedroom door. As quiet as we could, we entered her room. Laying on her bed was a brown wolf. He looked up at us and his tongue fell from his mouth making him look silly.

"Jeremy?" We both said.

He sneezed.

"You are the goofiest werewolf I have ever seen," I shook my head.

"What on earth are you doing walking around the house like that?" Emma asked him. "You scared us."

I could hear his stomach growling.

"He was looking for food," I said.

Emma pulled a sleeve of crushed crackers from her sweatshirt pocket and tossed it onto the bed in front of him. Jeremy clumsily started eating.

She looked over at me and said, "Snacking helps distract me from the hunger sometimes."

"I can't let you keep starving, you could die. We need to go now," I said.

Emma looked back at Jeremy worriedly though.

"We were both gone today, he went through that all alone."

I took her hand leading her back towards the stairs, "He seems to be doing alright though. He'll be fine, we need to worry about you."

Emma sighed and followed me downstairs and to the back door.

"Where are you guys going?" Simon asked from the kitchen stove.

He and Derek were preparing dinner apparently.

"Chloe's going to teach me some tricks," Emma said and slipped out the door before Simon could respond.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows, "Good luck I guess?"

I tipped an invisible hat and stepped outside. Emma and I scaled the back fence into a neighbor's yard and quickly ran to the sidewalk before our trespassing was noticed.

"The woods are a few blocks that way," I pointed to the right.

"How are you going to make sure I don't kill a bunny or something?" She asked as we walked.

I'd had a plan ever since I suggested helping her.

"Well I don't think a bunny would be enough to sustain you, right? You need something bigger?"

Emma hesitantly nodded.

"Good, because I have a plan." I smiled. "Deer would probably be your best bet. They are bigger and harder to kill. But you need to get used to the chase and catching them and controlling your feeding. So we're going to start with a controlled environment."

Emma wasn't following, "We're going to the woods though."

I nodded, "Because this needs to be as realistic as possible. You're going to be chasing a wolf instead of a deer for now. Me."

"Chloe," Emma grabbed me. "Matt said I can't hurt you guys or I'll be in a lot of trouble."

I smiled, "That's why no one else is going to know. All they need to know is I'm helping you out."

"I don't like this, I can't hurt you Chloe. What if something happens?!"

"This is exactly what you need though," I said. "You more worried about hurting me than an animal so you'll have a lot more motivation to learn to control your feeding."

Emma's protests continued until we reached the edge of the trees.

"You're starving Emma, and this is the quickest way for you to learn to hunt animals."

"I might have exaggerated," she tried to go back on what she said earlier.

"Really?" I asked unconvinced. Then I bit into the palm of my right hand making it bleed.

Before the first drop of blood hit the grass, Emma's fangs were out and she was restraining herself.

"That's what I thought," I said. "You are starving Emma."

I slipped my shoes off and took one of my socks off. Tying it around my hand like a bandage. A little gross since I'd been wearing them all day but I wasn't about to rip another one of my shirts.

"There's a flaw in your plan," Emma said. "You're not in wolf form."

"I've had a kind of stressful day," I said. "I'm sure I can make it work."

I walked into the tree line and found a spot. Emma stayed back because my hand was still bleeding.


	107. The Hunt

It turned out to be harder than I thought to force myself to change. I guess panicking over a boy wasn't enough to force it out.

But now here I stood as a wolf waiting for Emma to give me the go ahead. The plan was she gave me a one or two minute head start before she would start tracking me down.

Emma looked at me worriedly and nodded. I took off as fast as I could into the woods. I wasn't worried that she would hurt me. And if she did hurt me, I wasn't going to hold it against her. Emma needed to learn to control her feeding so she could feel better about hunting animals.

I dodged a large fallen tree and veered off to the left, a straight line wouldn't be much of a challenge. While I did a quick circle around a bush, I wondered why she wasn't getting blood like the vampires would. Maybe she should speak up so they could supply it and she wouldn't have to hunt.

Footsteps not too far behind me, damn she was a good tracker. I sped up my pace as fast as I could go and forgot about keeping track of where I was. Turn right turn left jump over a creek turn right again.

Suddenly the earth twisted and dirt flew into my eyes. Emma had been so quiet I hadn't heard her catch up until she'd tackled me. I didn't want to seriously harm her so I avoided using my claws. I rolled, shifting both our weight until I could get to my feet.

Emma was in full vampire mode. She lunged for me again but I quickly dodged it. Now she had the face full of dirt. I took off back towards the creek. Emma caught up as I crossed the water. She wrapped her arms around my chest and we both crashed into the water. My head connected with a rock. Emma took advantage of my moment of disorientation and her fangs sank into my throat.

She probably had a mouthful of fur but she didn't seem to care. I couldn't help but cry out from pain and a little bit of panic. She was maybe an inch from my windpipe. I tried to push her off me but her fangs sank in deeper, getting closer.

I growled and thrashed and tried to get her to stop. Even though the creek had just a few inches of water, it was enough for me to not be able to get a solid footing to try to run.

I knew how thirsty Emma was, I'd been there before. Now I was getting worried because she didn't seem to be stopping.

The panic signaled my body to start changing back. No! Not now! My leg cracked and shot backwards, nicking her in the stomach with my claw.

"Ah!" She exclaimed and pulled out of my throat. "Oh my god! Chloe?!"

Emma was regaining control of herself. In panic, she let go of her grip on me and I fell into the creek. Hitting my head on a rock again.

"Chloe! I'm so sorry. What do I do?"

Bones cracked and I bit my tongue to stay quiet but that didn't last. I cried out.

"Talk to me," Emma pulled me out of the creek and into the dirt. My cry must've been human enough if she was telling me to talk.

My front legs? Arms? Started breaking. They felt hot. My whole body felt like it was on fire but this was different. I looked at them and saw they were covered in blood. My throat was still bleeding.

"…help… neck…" I managed to croak out before crying out in pain as my spine twisted.

Emma grabbed something and pressed it against my wound to try to stop the bleeding. She was pressing too hard though and cutting off my breathing. I gasped, edges of my vision going back, and swatted at her arm with my half human half wolf arm.

She quickly readjusted her angle. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

Emma held my wound closed while I finished changing back to human. I would've kept crying out but I couldn't. I was just trying to stay conscious.

When it was all over with, I looked up at Emma, eyes halfway open.

"Please tell me this isn't my shirt your using as a bandaide," I said.

"Chloe eyes open," she said ignoring me. "Come on. Don't make me call the boys."

I couldn't let Derek see me like this. I forced my eyes to stay all the way open.

"There we are," she said. "Keep them open ok? I'm gonna check your wound."

She slowly peeled away what I assumed was my shirt, I shouted some choice words.

"Shhh shhh," she said softly. "It doesn't look too bad now, it's stopped bleeding I think."

Emma helped me sit up against a tree stump where I became aware I was not wearing anything besides mud and blood. I covered myself with my hands.

"Relax I'm not looking," Emma's gaze was on my face. "We'll get you cleaned up in a second, you need rest." She sighed. "I told you this was a bad idea. I knew you'd get hurt."

I chuckled, "I actually think that went well."

Emma blinked, "Huh?"

"You caught me fast, you're a good tracker," I said.

"But I could've killed you," she argued.

Emma helped me back to the creek to try to wash off the mud and blood.

"You didn't though," I rebuttaled. "You were able to stop yourself."

"Yeah," Emma nodded sadly.

I started getting dressed and Emma cleaned up herself.

"You did good for the first hunt," I told her. "The only thing I'd change is don't go for the neck next time. How am I going to hide this?"

I put my shirt on, she hadn't used it to stop the bleeding. But where was my bra?

"I have an unsanitary idea," Emma said. "At least one that gets you in the house."

"I'm listening," I said. Plopping back onto the ground exhausted. "But also, where's my bra?"

Emma gestured to where we just were, "I used it to stop the bleeding. I guess I figured undergarments were better to use because you can't come home without a shirt or without pants but you can come home without that."

I pressed my palm against my throat, washing up had allowed it to trickle blood.

"And your unsanitary plan?" I yawned.

Emma sat beside me and put an arm around me so I could lean against her.

"Try not to fall asleep, I took way too much blood."

My skin still felt like it was on fire from the change so I was sweating. Blood loss and heat were the perfect combination for wanting to just close my eyes.

"Chloe," Emma snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Eyes open."

I tried to keep them open.

"I know you just washed up and mud in a wound isn't sanitary but if you're necks covered in mud you get two things. You can hide the wound as we come inside, and you have an excuse to shower right away. Meaning you don't have to stand around talking to people."

I nodded, "Ok."

Emma scooped up some mud and smeared it across my neck as gently as possible. It still stung like hell though.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," she mumbled.

"Because you'll live," I said. Emma helped me stand. "Because you're not starving anymore and you're gaining skills."

Emma guided us home.


	108. Chapter 108

We approached the house and Emma stopped me to fuss over my hair. We hadn't got all the mud out of it.

"I'm fine," I whined.

"You need to be as presentable as possible. We don't want to raise a lot of questions about what you did."

Emma was grateful for the help but still mad that I put myself in harms way.

"You'll be the one raising questions," I yawned. "You still have dried blood on your forehead."

Emma's eyes widened and she started scrubbing her forehead with her sleeve until it was gone.

"Eyes open," she tapped me on the nose.

I hadn't noticed I'd closed them.

"Can I skip the shower and just go to bed?" I asked as we walked up to the door.

Emma shook her head, "You lost too much. Your body needs to replace some first." We stepped inside. "Straight to the shower."

"What on earth happened to you two?" Derek said.

He and Simon were watching tv, I guess we'd missed dinner.

"I fell in a creek," I said.

"What tricks involve a creek?" Simon asked.

Emma smiled, "It's a girl secret. We'll teach you someday. Now Chloe go shower. I'm going to check on Jeremy."

I started walking towards the bathroom. Derek quickly came over and caught my arm.

"Chloe wait," he said.

He looked down at his hand on my arm, whatever he was going to say didn't matter once he felt the heat.

"You're burning up," he said.

"I'm fine," I said softly. Keep your eyes open Chloe. Ignore your throbbing headache.

Derek shook his head, "You're going to change aren't you."

I sighed knowing I needed to be honest if our communication was going to get better.

"No," I said. "I already did that and back. That's why I fell into the creek actually."

Derek immediately pulled me into a hug.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked softly. He thought Emma and I lied about why we ran off.

His hand brushed the bump on my head from the rocks and I tried not to wince. I didn't feel like being babied right now.

"I didn't know it was coming, it happened fast."

"Shower and lets get you to bed," Derek said letting go of me. "You've got to be exhausted."

"You have no idea," without thinking I rubbed my neck and winced.

"You ok?" Derek was concerned but trying not to be overwhelming.

I nodded, "Just a little banged up from the fall. I think I got a nice bruise here. The creek was more rock than water."

I took a freezing cold shower to cool myself off and keep myself awake. I found a bandage in the medicine cabinet and placed it over my neck to keep the gash from reopening.

Then I realized I hadn't brought clean clothes with me. I sighed, wrapped myself in the towel securely, and scooped up my dirty clothes. Then hurried upstairs.

I rushed into the room, shut the door, and dropped my dirty clothes on the floor as I turned around. As I looked up from my clothes I realized that Simon was sitting on the bed. My face turned crimson and I thanked god that I still had my towel on.

Simon looked up from his phone.

"Um," I stumbled over my words utterly embarrassed. "Mind if I borrow the room for a minute?"

Simon cracked his signature goofy smile.

"Hmm I don't know," he teased. "I was here first."

"Simonnnnn this is embarrassing enough already," I whined.

He laughed and left so I could get dressed. I put on a tank top and shorts in case the shower was only cooling me off temporarily.

I stepped out of the room to tell Simon he could come back but he was nowhere to be found. He must've gone downstairs. I decided to pop into Emma's room to see how they were doing. She was sitting on the floor next to a human Jeremy laying there with his back facing me. I couldn't tell if he was awake or not so I spoke softly.

"Am I ok to sleep yet?"

"I'm awake," Jeremy rolled over. "You don't have to be quiet."

Emma looked at the time.

"You're probably alright by now."

"How are you feeling?" I asked Jeremy before he could ask what we were talking about.

"Today's been the roughest day of my life," he said.

"But you made it through," Emma pointed out. "We all did."

My eyes widened with panic.

"What does that mean?" Jeremy sat up.

Emma realized her mistake.

"Oh you know, that meeting I went through. Lots of arguing."

Jeremy looked for my reaction, he didn't believe her.

I nodded, "Yeah I heard things got heated. I'm surprised those vampires are sticking around. I wouldn't want to stick around a place with rules if I were them."

"Me too," Emma nodded.

A hand on my shoulder made me jump. It was Derek.

"Could you like not scare her all the time please?" Jeremy said annoyed.

"It's alright, he didn't mean to." I defended Derek.

Derek spoke before Jeremy could, "I was just bringing Chloe some Tylenol."

I turned and saw that he had a glass of water and two pills in his hand. I took them gratefully, mouthing a thank you, the shower hadn't helped my pounding headache.

"I think I'm going to go to bed, I'm exhausted. Goodnight guys."

"We are too," Emma said as she stood up. "Night Chloe, feel better."

"G'night," Jeremy yawned.

I took the medicine as Derek and I walked to my room.

"What's with the bandaide?" Derek asked. "You said it was a bruise."

I climbed into the bed.

"I actually had a decent scrape instead of a bruise," I said.

Derek hovered in the doorway.

"Come in?"

Derek came in and sat in Simon's spot.

"I wasn't sure if it was ok after how you reacted earlier," he admitted.

I got under the blanket and scooted up next to him, resting my head against his arm.

"Chloe," he said.

"Hm?" I was already falling asleep.

"If you hurt your neck, you probably hit your head. Are you sure you don't have a concussion? You shouldn't sleep with a concussion."

"Just a bump," I mumbled.

Derek said something else but I didn't hear it as I drifted off.

Buzz buzz buzz.

"Hello?... she's right here…. Maybe…. No…. she would've said… can't be…"

Who was talking on the phone? I rolled away sleepily annoyed.

"Chloe, you awake?" They said to me. Then to the phone, "I'll call you back."

The phone beeped as the call ended.

"Chloe?"

"No," I mumbled. "I'm asleep."

"It's important."

I opened my eyes expecting Simon but it was Derek. He stayed after I fell asleep.

"That was Elijah and Tess calling you," he said. "They think somethings wrong."


	109. i'm fine

**What's your guys' best guess at how long they've been gone from Tess? Six months? I don't know exactly lol.**

"Think somethings wrong?" I rubbed my eyes.

Derek nodded.

"With?" I asked when he didn't continue.

"You," he said. "They explained it better than I can but something about Elijah keeps tabs on any important magic he does and his magic alerted him or something to the anti-vampire thing he did for you."

"That was more of a procedure than magic though," I said. From what I had heard about it at least, I wasn't conscious during it.

Derek shrugged, "Whatever you want to call it, Elijah's concerned that it's been undone." Derek leaned over. "Chloe how hard did you hit your head?"

I groaned, "I feel fine can we do this in the morning?"

I could tell he was itching to ask me a million more questions but he was also trying to be less intense. Derek was probably still worried he'd scare me off.

"Please?" He asked.

"I hit it twice but not that hard. I just got some bumps from it." My phone light dimmed so I tapped the screen so I could still see Derek's face. "If knocking my head would undo Elijah's work, we would've had a problem a long time ago."

He nodded, it was a fair point. Hitting my head wouldn't undo magic and if it did we would have discovered it a while ago.

"I feel fine," I said. "I promise to tell you if I feel vampire-ish at all. Ok?"

Derek's eyes were full of worry.

"You're not going to fall back asleep tonight, are you?" I said.

He shook his head, "Nope."

I sat up, "Well now I feel guilty so I'm staying up with you."

"Chloe, magic doesn't just make stuff up. Somethings happened whether you feel it yet or not. Elijah and Tess are scared to death."

"Magic can make mistakes," I argued.

Derek pulled me closer to him and laid my head against his chest.

"Listen to my heart beating and tell me what it makes you feel."

I closed my eyes and listened to it. Even though Derek was trying to appear calm, his heart beat gave him away.

"You're panicking," I said.

Derek growled at me softly.

"That's not what I told you to tell me."

I tried again, listening to the beating and focusing on myself. My neck and the bumps on my head felt sore but not that bad. The medicine was helping. Even though I'd changed twice, I felt just fine now. The only thing was my stomach hurt a little because I missed dinner. I couldn't find any urge for blood.

"I feel like me," I said. "Nothing vampire, just concern for your panic."

Derek rolled his eyes, "I think I have the right to panic right now."

I picked up my phone, "Then let's call them and have Elijah come check his magic."

The phone didn't finish ringing once before they answered. I clicked the speakerphone button and set it on the blanket.

"Derek?" Elijah said.

"Right here," Derek said.

"How is she?" Tess asked.

They had us on speakerphone too I bet. I looked up at Derek to talk, maybe they might say more if they didn't know I was listening. Like when doctors talk about patients to their family.

"She's fine, nothings wrong," Derek said.

"That can't be right," Elijah said. I could almost hear the frown in his voice.

"It's a good thing though, right?" Tess asked. "No signs is better than her hurting her friends."

"Chloe did spend the day with another vampire hybrid," Derek said. "Could the other vampire be throwing off your magic by being close by?"

"I don't think that's a thing," Elijah said. "Where are you guys? I'd like to come check on her myself."

"EJ no. They have to be able to handle things on their own. Derek will let us know if she starts showing signs."

So not only did they not think I was listening, but they thought Derek hadn't said anything to me yet.

"Actually that's not a bad idea," Derek argued. "Only Elijah would know if something about his magic had changed. I don't think Tori would be able to sense change in a spell she'd never seen before."

"Then it's settled," Elijah said. There was a sound like he'd tapped his hands on the table. "Where are you guys at? We'll be there as soon as possible."

We? I'd get to see Tess again!

Derek gave them the details while I thought about Tess. What was the first thing I was going to say? I'd probably start rambling on stories about our adventures.

"Chloe?" Derek brought my attention back after he'd hung up.

I looked up at him.

"We have enough stuff to worry about already," I groaned. "You guys are getting worked up over nothing. I feel fine. Can't we leave this one alone?"

"No," Derek said then asked. "What stuff?"

"Jeremy fully changed," I said. I thought he already knew. "Didn't you see how snippy he got with you earlier?"

Derek adjusted the pillow behind him. "I told you I'm not all that worried about him. I'm worried about how the rest of you are going to react if it gets physical."

**Morning**

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror as I finished brushing my hair. The little bags under my eyes told me that I was going to need a nap at some point today.

"Hey," Simon appeared in the doorway. "Did you hear Tess and Elijah are coming by for a visit?"

I nodded, "Yeah. It'll be nice to see them again. Good timing too since we're not vampire hunting right now."

Simon chuckled, "Yep, just vampire babysitting."

I laughed too and went downstairs with Simon.

"Have you heard when they'll get here?" I asked.

Simon shook his head, "No, but I know it's not today. Matt's assigned Derek and I to go check on the vampires."

"Can I come?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Matt said from the living room couch.

"Why?" I asked. "You think they'll feel ganged up on with three of us?"

Matt waved at Simon to walk away and he did with a very confused look.

"I know why they're coming," Matt said. "You all didn't talk very quietly last night. I think it's best you stay away from vampires for the moment."

I sat down on the other side of the couch.

"If you heard the conversation then you heard me say I'm fine a million times."

"I really hope you are but we have to take precautions until we know for sure," Matt said.

I sighed, "What do you want to tell everyone then? We kind of need a reason for me to be under house arrest."

Matt rolled his eyes. He thought calling it house arrest was being over dramatic.


	110. V Scar and Lily

**I went back and looked and couldn't find anywhere that I had named the two vampires girls so I gave them names in this chapter. But if I already have named them, my bad! I'll fix it!**

**Simon's POV**

Derek and I left to go check on the new vampires. We decided to walk because it was a nice day outside and it was only ten minutes up the road. Samuel, some guy from a security council was going to meet us there.

"How're you feeling?" Derek asked.

I chuckled, "So you either finally connected the dots or Chloe spilled."

"Does it matter?" He asked.

I shrugged, "Guess not because I still feel completely normal. Nothing happened."

Derek gave me his 'I don't believe you' look.

"Give me that look all you want," I smiled.

He mumbled something under his breath about me being reckless. I pretended not to hear it.

When we approached the apartment complex, a man was standing outside the door in a suit. He nodded at us.

"I see Flint is still hiding from his responsibilities," he said.

"Simon meet Samuel," Derek crossed his arms. "The judgmental security guard."

Samuel glared at Derek and entered the building instead of saying something back.

"Really? You're going to push this guys buttons?" I raised an eyebrow at Derek as we stepped inside too.

Samuel was already at the stairs.

"Third floor, room six, hurry up," he said.

Derek and I followed him up to the room. I tried to figure out what he was. He didn't have any strange physical characteristics that I could see.

Samuel knocked on the door. A moment later one of the girls opened it, her eyes landed directly on Derek.

"Hello," she said only to Derek. "Come in."

We stepped inside. The place had barely any furniture yet. Just some folding chairs and suitcases in the small living room area we stood in.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced," she smiled. "My names Scarlet."

I shut the door behind us.

"Shut up Scar," the other girl said as she dug through her suitcase. "They're here for V not you."

Scarlet rolled her eyes, "That's Lily."

"Where is V?" Samuel asked.

"Here," he said stepping out of the bathroom. "How may I help you gentlemen?"

"We're just checking in," Samuel said. He answered quickly like he didn't want us to speak up and say the wrong thing. "Seeing how you're adjusting, if you've worked any debt yet."

V did not look happy.

"You're going to be monitoring my behavior?"

"Can you blame them V?" Scarlet said. "We did do damage to the food supply."

"I told you to shut up," Lily said to her again.

Samuel cleared his throat, "Maybe it's best if we talk privately V."

"Girls, hallway," V waved his hand.

Being the one closest to the door, I opened it for them. Scarlet smiled at me and Lily ignored me. I was about to shut the door when Derek shook his head.

"Keep an eye on them," he said.

Normally I didn't stand for Derek giving me orders but this one I was ok with. They seemed to be better company than this V guy.

I stepped out into the hall and shut the door. Lily was sitting on the floor against the wall trying to untangle two necklaces. Scarlet just watched me.

"So…" I said.

"The werewolf is cute," Scarlet giggled.

"Scar!" Lily glared.

Alright here was my in with one of them at least. Sibling drama!

I looked at Scarlet and loudly whispered, "Is she always like this?"

Lily glared at me. Scarlet nodded.

"She's always grumpy. Aren't you Lily? You're still mad at V for killing your boyfriend."

Scarlet was beginning to remind me of the little sister who could never keep a secret.

"Why'd he do that?" I asked.

"Because he was a human," Scarlet said. "V doesn't like humans. He says they're nothing more than pests."

**Meanwhile Derek's POV**

"I take it you haven't done anything for your debt yet," Samuel crossed his arms.

V shrugged, "Hell we just moved in here, can you give me some more time? I don't even have a bed yet."

I hated to admit it but I had to agree with V that this was a little early to be demanding he was repaying his debt. Though Samuel didn't want him here anyway so he was probably doing this to find a reason to kick them out of town.

I tried to change the conversation, "Do we have jobs for V or his family? They need some way to make money, don't they?"

V seemed genuinely surprised at my question. He nodded agreeing that they needed money.

Samuel thought for a moment before answering, "I suppose you do need money to furnish your home if you stay. I will notify Rick that he needs to find you work."

V asked, "And my daughters?"

Samuel shrugged, "If Rick can find jobs for them, he will let you know. Just focus on your debt for now. I want to hear about progress next time I see your face."

V glared at him but nodded.

Samuel turned and left. I nodded a goodbye at V and followed him out. That look of surprise made me think the two of us were on ok terms at the moment and I didn't want to ruin that with a rude exit. It could be useful later.

Whatever was going on out here in the hallway, it stopped as soon as we came out. Lily dashed back inside and Scarlet was standing maybe a foot away from Simon, arms in the air like she'd been ranting.

Scarlet sighed, "I guess this means you have to go Simon. It was nice meeting you."

She gave Simon a quick hug before stepping back inside the apartment.

"What on earth was going on out here?" I asked.

Simon smiled proudly, "Derek, if only you knew women like I do. You'd know how to get them talking like that." He snapped his fingers.

"And what did you find out?" Samuel asked unamused.

"Scar has a thing for werewolves," Simon winked at me.

Well she'd already made that kind of obvious, so if Simon really had real information from them, he was trying to signal he wasn't going to say it in front of Samuel. Samuel turned and walked to the stairs without another word. We followed him down.

"Couldn't that have been done over the phone?" I asked Samuel as we got outside.

Samuel checked his watch, "Number one, they don't have cell phones. Number two, you do not have the authority to tell me what to do. And number three, when I am speaking to someone else you need to shut up. Do not interject again or we will have a problem."

A silver truck pulled up and Samuel got in without another word. He seemed to do the exit without speaking thing a lot.

Simon just watched me.

"What?" I asked.

"How did you not just kill that guy for talking to you like that?"

I put my hands in my pockets and started walking back, Simon followed.

"Because he is right that he has the authority here not me," I said. "And because I'm trying to control my anger better for Chloe."

"Awe," Simon teased.

**Some number of chapters ago they were in an area of snow, so I'd guess its late springtime now. It was kind of hard to keep weather consistent when they moved around because depending on how far they traveled, weather changes. But now that they're in a single spot for a while, it should be easier to track. Maybe next chapter I'll try to incorporate a date or at least a month lol! **

**I'll be honest with you guys, at this time I haven't decided on what happened with Elijah's magic yet. I have several ideas that I would like to do but I haven't settled on one yet. I agree that it would get very messy very fast if Emma and Chloe's adventure got out. We'll have to wait and see where this goes(:**


	111. Fleeing Helper

**I think a birthday would be a great idea to do soon! If I remember right, I think it's been two years since the ending of the books so Chloe would be 17 and I'll have to double check but I thought the boys were two years older than her? So they'd be turning 19? I'll definitely have to look into that and do a birthday chapter!**

**Also, couldn't find a natural way to work it in so I'll just say it here in the authors note. It's mid-April rn in the story.**

**Chloe's POV**

"Can you at least give me something to do?" I asked Matt.

I was currently laying upside down on the couch extremely bored. Tess and Elijah would be here sometime tomorrow.

"Sure," Matt came into the living room. "You can tell me why you have a bandage on your neck."

I adjusted myself to sit normally.

"I already told you that I fell in a creek," I said.

Matt didn't look convinced, "And what were you doing at a creek instead of being here for dinner?"

I opened my mouth and shut it, unable to come up with a quick enough excuse.

"That's what I thought," Matt sighed. "I thought we talked about this Chloe. Don't keep secrets from me."

"Ok. I was attempting to teach Emma how to hunt deer since you said we couldn't feed her anymore. She didn't want to go alone because she didn't want to kill the deer. Seeing as I'm human though, it's kind of hard to keep up with her speed and I tripped a lot."

There, that was close enough to the truth that I could say it convincingly.

"So if I go ask Emma the same question, she'll tell me the same thing?"

I shook my head, "Probably not. She was a bit embarrassed that she was afraid of killing a deer. She made me promise not to tell."

Again, close enough to the truth to be convincing.

Matt nodded, "I won't repeat anything then. Thank you for being honest."

"Hey," Liz appeared on the other end of the couch.

"Liz is here," I told Matt.

He smiled, "Good, Liz keep her busy."

Matt left to go back to whatever he was doing

Liz rolled her eyes smiling, "What did you do Chloe? Why are you in the doghouse?"

"Nothing," I said. "How's looking for Kyle?"

"Ok," Liz said preparing herself for the explanation. "So as you know, I tried and tried to look around the other side and find him. But I can't, so I've been giving his description to anyone that I do find. That's been a bust until today. I found an older gentleman that says he's passed by a guy of that description at a motel once. Now, it could be a total coincidence or that could've been when Kyle was still anchored to that motel you met him at. But what if he was like respawned there? Is respawn the right word? I don't know. You get what I mean though, what if he was put back at the motel?! I've got to find it and check it out. It's the only lead I've got."

She's right that it could be a fluke, ghosts sometimes will talk just to talk. It's got to be lonely having no one to talk to. But it might be a real lead too.

"Do you know how to find the place?" I asked.

Liz frowned, "Um no."

"Is it possible for me to help?" I asked. "I mean I can summon ghosts to come to me? Is it possible I could place them too?"

Liz thought about it, "I have no idea but in theory that makes sense. We should try it."

"Are you sure?" I thought back to that necromancer I met when we stayed with Andrew. I think Margaret was her name? She warned me that pushing ghosts could send them anywhere.

"Yes I'm sure," Liz said confidently. "I always find my way back when things go wonky so don't worry about me if it gets all messed up. Just, I don't know, picture the motel and push me there?"

"Be safe," I said, her trust in me made me feel a little bit better about it.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture the motel. It was harder than I thought because we'd been through so many. So instead I pictured the bus stop that Kyle and I used to run away from the group. It was right outside the motel. I got as clear a picture and I could in my head and then pushed Liz mentally. I imagined her disappearing from the couch and reappearing in my image of the bus stop.

I repeated this backwards summoning over and over until I was interrupted by hands on my shoulders. I opened my eyes and Liz was gone. Matt was standing behind the couch, hands on my shoulders.

He leaned down by my ear and said, "Just one more thing; you're the type I like to call a fleeing helper. For example, when you became a werewolf, you fled because you didn't want your friends to have to deal with your problem. You flee those you know because you think you're helping them by not burdening them with your problems. And I swear to god if you try to do that again I will hunt you down and tie your ankle to my own. I don't care what the verdict is with Elijah's magic. If he says your good, you've been lying, or you're gonna lose control in the next few days. You will not leave us. You help everyone else with their problems so you will let them help you with yours."

Matt squeeze my shoulders and let go as he stood back up. He turned and walked away while I was still processing what he said. A fleeing helper was actually a pretty accurate description of me now that I thought about it. I almost always hid my problems instead of getting help, especially if it was something big. Matt was right I couldn't do that anymore. If this vampire magic issue was real, I'd need help. I can't fix that on my own.

I sighed and leaned back on the couch, deciding now was a good time for my much needed nap.


	112. Chapter 112

**So I did some digging in the books and Simon was also fifteen even though he was a grade ahead of Chloe and Derek was sixteen. So if Chloe turned seventeen, Simon would be turning seventeen, and Derek would be turning eighteen. **

**Does this make anyone else wonder why Kit went with the experiment? He used to work for the Edison Group so he would've seen what was going on for at least a year maybe more before he brought in Simon right? Granted the werewolves were still babies so they didn't see the problems with the subjects yet but Kit would've seen how they were being treated still.**

**Also, did anyone else know there is a prequel called Dangerous that's all about Simon and Derek before the Lyle House?! I didn't know that!**

I looked around the dinner table and smiled. Things were going alright. Simon still wasn't showing signs of catching the werewolf gene from me. Emma wasn't starving anymore. Jeremy wasn't super sick anymore because he'd gotten through the change. I still wasn't feeling vampire-ish. Liz was potentially on her way to Kyle.

I tuned back into the conversation as Derek and Simon were telling everyone about their day at the vampire apartment.

"-and this girl will tell you anything," Simon smiled. "She told me all about how V found her and Lily. Though her favorite thing to talk about is Derek."

Tori choked on her drink as he said the last sentence.

"Why does he always get the girl?!" She exclaimed after she finished coughing.

I laughed, "Why do you care? Do you want the girl?"

That got laughs from everyone.

"No! That's not what I meant," Tori glared at me. "I just wonder why the dog gets all the romance and I get nothing."

"Hey, Scarlet's all yours if you want her," Derek teased.

Tori groaned in frustration.

"Relax," Jeremy rolled his eyes smiling. "You know they're teasing." He paused then added, "Cause Chloe's all yours if you wanted her instead."

We all started laughing again.

"Whoa whoa wait a second," Simon looked at Derek and I. "Does that mean you two aren't back together yet?"

I shrugged, "We haven't discussed it yet actually."

"Then I can do this," Jeremy smiled. He grabbed my hand which was still holding a forkful of pasta and kissed the back of my hand.

"Jeremy!" Emma exclaimed. She playfully punched his arm. "I'm right here you cheater!"

We all laughed at Emma's reaction. Though I think Derek's laugh was for show, he didn't like Jeremy doing that.

Dinner continued with everyone cracking jokes and having a fun time. It was a nice change of pace. Though in the back of my head I worried about Derek finding interest in this new vampire chick. I mean look at me, he had a thing for girls who were in need of help. And Scarlet sounded like she needed help, who willingly follows around an angry possibly crazy guy like V and a jerk 'sister' like Lily?

After dinner was cleaned up, we decided to watch a movie. While they were picking, Matt pulled me back into the kitchen.

"How're you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm fine, seriously," I said.

Matt frowned.

"I'm not lying," I insisted.

He gave me a smile, "Good."

Matt's phone started buzzing in his pocket, he pulled it out and hit answer.

"Go ahead and start without me," he said as he brought the phone to his ear.

I nodded and walked back to the living room, "Matt says start without him. What're we watching?"

"Twilight," Simon smiled.

"Simonnnn," Derek groaned.

Simon chuckled, "Alright I'll stop. We picked Shawshank Redemption."

"Nice," I smiled and sat down in the open recliner. "I haven't seen that in forever."

Emma hit play.

I fell asleep during some point in the movie. I woke up during the last five minutes of it. Most everyone had fallen asleep too besides Jeremy and Tori.

"Where's Matt?" I looked around for him.

My voice made the two jump, they hadn't realized I woke up.

"He left a while ago, the council of whatever told him he needed to come in," Tori said.

"In the middle of the night?" I questioned.

Jeremy nodded, "Yep. You guys going to bed or want to wait up for him?"

Tori popped one last handful of popcorn in her mouth and said, "I need my sleep."

She went upstairs. I told Jeremy I'd do my best to wait up with him. We picked out Toy Story to watch next. Jeremy came over and sat on the arm of my recliner so we wouldn't be talking across the room, potentially waking everyone up.

"You're sure this is ok?" Jeremy asked softly as he got comfortable.

I nodded, talking quietly too, "I'd rather not wake everyone up and I'm sure your chair from the kitchen table isn't meant for two."

Jeremy chuckled as he hit play.

"Hey look, I'm sorry if what I did earlier caused any problems with you and Derek," he whispered. "I was just joking around."

"You're fine," I reassured him. "Though you might want to lay off the dominance fight."

Jeremy looked at me confused.

"You yelled at him for scaring me by accident," I pointed out.

"I was just trying to stick up for you," Jeremy said. "If he keeps doing that you'll have a heart attack by the time you're 25."

I smiled, "I appreciate the concern. Just talk to him next time instead of yelling or snipping. You know he doesn't listen to that."

Jeremy quietly snorted a laugh, "He needs to learn then."

I glared at him.

"Sorry sorry," he apologized. "You're right, not my place."

Simon's foot slid off the coffee table and hit the ground making both of us jump.

Once again, I didn't make it all the way through the movie. Jeremy must not have either, he was still asleep on the arm of the chair. I yawned and looked around for what woke me. But Jeremy blocked half the room from my view.

As quietly as I could, I got up from the chair and checked the clock. Six thirty a.m. the sun would be up soon. A soft thud from the kitchen caught my attention. It sounded like the fridge door shutting.

I set my blanket down and made my way over to the kitchen, forgetting to look at who was missing from the living room.

I walked in and saw Derek preparing food.

"What're you doing?"

He looked up, "Morning. I was actually going to wake you up in a few minutes. I thought we could have a picnic breakfast and watch the sun rise. I have a feeling it'll be a chaotic day."

A few minutes later we were sitting on the roof of the house eating breakfast sandwiches.

"This is crazy," I smiled.

"Well," Derek smiled. "Simon got to do this for you while we were on the run so I figured its about time its my turn."

I rolled my eyes and took another bite.

"You're not still mad at Jeremy are you? You should know he apologized if it caused any problems."

Derek leaned back, "Good, he's still got some sense in him."


	113. Chapter 113

"So," Derek sipped his juice. "Time to talk about it yet?"

"It?" I said. "You mean us."

Derek nodded. I moved closer to him, watching the sky gradually turn pinkish orange. He snuck an arm around me.

I knew what my gut wanted me to say, let's wait on deciding to get back together because I don't want you to deal with me if I vampire out. But I can't be a fleeing helper anymore. I can't take my problems and run.

"Chloe?" Derek's voice gave away my silence was worrying him.

I sighed and looked over at him, "Can I be honest?"

"I don't like the sound of where this is going," Derek admitted.

"I think we should wait until Elijah gives me the all clear. I can't be a good girlfriend if I'm trying feed from you."

Derek relaxed and snorted a laugh, "You're just worried about being a good girlfriend? Chloe that's ridiculous, I wouldn't expect you to be behaving nonvampire if you get your vampire side back. That wouldn't be fair."

I turned back to looking at the sky, "I also…"

"Also what?" He asked.

"It's stupid, never mind."

Derek put a finger under my chin and turned my face back towards him.

"Just tell me."

"I don't want you to have to deal with my problems," I said.

Derek looked at me with surprise.

I stood up and started collecting my trash.

"What're you doing?" Derek asked.

"Going back inside," I said shortly. "Maybe one of them might not give me that look for my honesty."

Derek reached out for my arm to stop me but I backed up.

"Chloe, are you really mad at me for my expression? I just couldn't believe you'd say that."

"Then you should've said so," I picked up the travel mug I'd used for orange juice.

"Chloe stop. This is why we broke up, because of how your problems get handled. Let me help this time, please? I want to."

I shook my head, "You don't get it. I don't want to be a burden."

"Then I agree that its stupid," Derek said. "Because you should know me better. I'd tell you if you were being a burden. And I don't think I've ever said that so don't act like I think that way."

I sighed and sat back down beside him.

"Matt knows why they're coming," I said as I set my stuff down. "He heard us talking over the phone."

"So what?" Derek asked. "He isn't here to lecture."

"Matt's still not back?" I hadn't looked for him when I woke up.

Derek shook his head, "He didn't say anything about where he was going, just that Elijah and Tess would probably beat him back."

"But Jeremy and Tori said he was going to see the council people."

Derek leaned back until he was laying down on the roof.

"That's my guess too but he didn't say."

I laid back too, stealing his shoulder for a head rest.

"I hope everything's ok," I said.

We sat up there talking for a while longer until we heard a car pull in the driveway. Keeping as low to the roof as we could, we came up to the peak of the roof and peaked over to see who it was. It was a red car with two figures in the front seats. Tess and Elijah.

He tapped his ears telling me to listen closely. They got out of their car and came up to the house. Knocked and waited, the door opened and Simon's voice greeted them.

"Hi guys! Come on in!"

We got down from the roof and came in the back door. I saw them with Tori and Simon hugging and saying hi, we took the opportunity to put our things in the kitchen.

"Ready?" Derek asked me. I nodded, excited to see them again regardless of the circumstances. We came out to the living room.

"Hi," I smiled.

"Chloe!" Tess beamed. She was wearing a dark green hoodie and jean shorts. Other than dark circles under her eyes, she looked great. "Don't make me beg for a hug."

I walked over and hugged her. Her arms felt like home.

"Are you going to let me say hi?" Elijah smiled.

Tess let go of me and I smiled at Elijah. He must've gotten a job doing work outside because he'd gotten tanner. Elijah had on cargo shorts and a black t-shirt.

"Hi," I said.

I was a little scared of him even though I was excited to see him. Probably because he was the one who would tell me I'm losing my mind and I wasn't ready to hear that.

"Stop being shy," Tess said to Derek. She came over to him and forced him into a hug.

"Hey guys," Derek smiled.

We all stepped onto the back patio because there wasn't enough seating in the living room.

"Where's Matt?" Elijah asked as everyone sat down.

"He got called away last night," Jeremy said as he stepped out the door.

"Jeremy," Tess smiled. "Glad to see you're still alive. I thought Chloe would've gotten annoyed with you by now."

"How dare you," Jeremy dramatically gasped. "I am a delight."

We all laughed. I wondered why he was still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Here," I gestured at a chair. "Sit."

"I actually came to get your help real quick," Jeremy said.

Concerned, I got up and followed him inside. Jeremy waited until we were at the stairs to say anything, he wanted to be well out of werewolf earshot.

"Emma's nervous," he said. She came down the stairs and sat on a step.

"Ok?" I didn't follow. "What do you need my help with?"

Emma picked at her nails, "He wants me to come out and meet them. I don't want to. I don't like new people."

"Why do you want her to?" I asked Jeremy as I sat down on the bottom step.

"Emma has to learn to socialize with strangers eventually. She's not always going to have someone around to speak for her like Derek did at their meeting."

She picked at her nails harder, I saw a little dot of blood well up.

"Hey," I grabbed her hands. "Relax. We're not going to force you." I looked at both of them. "How about a compromise?"

Emma squeezed my hands.

"A baby step compromise," I told her. "Just come outside. You don't have to say anything, you don't even need to make eye contact. Just be outside. And if that's too much you can come back in."

Jeremy nodded, that worked for him. I waited for Emma to say something.

"Ok," she said after a minute of silence. "That's fair."

We stood up.

"Don't feel intimidated by them," I told her. "They won't press you with questions you don't want to answer. Now, deep breath."

Emma nodded and took a deep breath before we stepped back out. She held onto my hand tightly. Jeremy sat in the seat I pointed out earlier and I let go of Emma's hand so she could sit beside him. She immediately grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"Who's this?" Elijah asked.

Emma looked at me with pleading eyes.

"This is Emma, she joined us a little while back."

Elijah watched her, probably connecting the dots that she was the hybrid Derek mentioned on the phone, "Nice to meet you Emma."

She nodded. Elijah's attention turned back to the conversation he was having with Derek. Tess was listening to Tori and Simon tell our stories. I watched Emma relax as the attention went off her.


	114. Chapter 114

**Ok so I have gone back and reread a lot of this story to make sure my facts were straight with vampires and character personalities and I did make a mistake with Elijah so I hope this explanation in this chapter is realistic enough to why he would have magic. Also, Elijah once called Derek a juice box isn't that hilarious?! I totally forgot about that!**

**Late afternoon**

Elijah held me back as everyone walked inside for lunch.

"Down to business so soon?" I asked.

Elijah looked surprised. He'd been preparing to tell me why he came.

"Derek told you."

"Actually I was there on the phone call," I admitted.

"Oh," Elijah bit his lip. "Sorry I should've asked if you were there."

I shrugged it off.

"Diagnose me doc," I said. "What's going on upstairs?"

Elijah's expression was hard to read.

"You don't seem like anything went wrong," he said. "But I'd still like to get a close look inside your head if you'd let me."

My eyes widened, "You want to stick needles in me again?!"

"No no," Elijah said quickly shaking his head. "I mean doing a scan of your head with magic. Like an MRI."

"Oh, ok. That's fine." I glanced through the glass door at everyone rummaging through the cupboards. "Could we go upstairs for that? I don't know how to explain that to them."

Elijah smiled, "I was going to suggest going somewhere more private too."

We stepped inside and slipped upstairs as quickly as we could. Elijah was about to lock my bedroom door when Derek pushed the door open.

"I'm sorry am I interrupting something?" He said sarcastically. Derek knew he was. "You weren't planning on messing with her head without me now were you?"

Elijah stepped aside and let Derek in, locking it behind him. He sat down on the bed and told me to sit on the floor in front of him. Elijah closed his eyes and placed his palms on my head. We sat in silence for some time before something dawned on me.

"Hold on," I pulled out of Elijah's range and turned around. "You're a werewolf."

"And?" He said, annoyed that I interrupted his process.

"And you're doing magic?" I continued.

"My mother was a werewolf, my father was a warlock," he said. "I can't access magic like Simon or Tori. I can only use the magic in my blood."

"So you have a finite amount of magic you can use in your whole life?" Derek asked.

Elijah nodded, "Yes, that's why I barely use it and why people don't usually connect the dots like Chloe did. Now both of you shush and let me concentrate."

I moved back to my spot in front of him and let Elijah get back to work. After a few minutes there was a knock on the door. Elijah groaned frustrated with interruptions.

"I've been sent to see what's taking so long, lunches been ready," Tess said through the door.

Elijah nodded at Derek to let her in. She walked in and sat down on the bed beside Elijah with a sigh.

"So," she said. "What's the verdict EJ?"

"Well, you've got to remember that Chloe losing connection with her vampirism was a side effect of messing with her head. That isn't what we were trying to do," Elijah said. "So I'm not sure exactly where that connection was. But I can't find any problems or detect any vampire."

"So I'm fine then," I said.

Elijah frowned, this didn't sit right with him. "I guess so."

"Then what set off your magic alarm?" Derek asked.

"That's what bothers me," Elijah rubbed his face with his hands. "I can't figure it out."

"Well," Tess stood. "We need to try to not stress too much. She's fine right now so we have time, we can figure it out later. I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Elijah rolled his eyes.

Even with Tess' distraction, he was clearly stressed since he didn't have an easy answer. But at the same time Elijah seemed relieved that I wasn't vamping out and hiding it. Elijah and Tess left, Derek wrapped me in a tight hug before I could follow.

"I'm so glad there's nothing wrong," he said softly.

"If only you listened to me and saved them the trip," I teased.

Derek finally let go of me when we heard someone clear their throat at the door.

"Someone want to tell me what the powwow is for?" Simon leaned against the molding.

I answered before Derek could come up with anything.

"They are here to visit," I said. "But Elijah also wanted to check in on my vampire rewiring to see if I was still alright. Don't tell everyone please? Cause I'm doing good."

"If you're fine then why keep it hush that he was checking up on you?" Simon asked.

"Because I don't want anyone to start thinking I'm might have a mental breakdown," I said.

Simon nodded, "Makes sense."

**Time Skip**

Matt showed up during the evening. At first glance, he looked normal when he came walking in, but when once he was in the living room giving Tess a hug; I noticed smeared blood across his pant leg and the back of his arm.

"Where on earth have you been?" Tess looked him over. "You're filthy."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about it. Did you guys find the place ok?"

Elijah nodded, "Yeah, I've been around the area once before."

Matt excused himself to go get cleaned up, when he got back he gave us a weird look.

"What?" Simon asked.

"We have no food left," Matt mockingly glared at us. "I leave for one day and you all eat the house. Some of you are going grocery shopping tomorrow."

He settled down into the available chair.


	115. Chapter 115

I washed up in the downstairs bathroom, getting ready to go to sleep. Simon and I gave Tess and Elijah our room to sleep in for their stay. We didn't want them sleeping on the couch like they weren't welcome here. Derek offered his bed to both of us but Simon and I were fine sleeping in the living room.

I looked at my bandaide in the mirror and grabbed the end of it. People always say rip it off fast but I never could, I always went slow and steady. I set the bandaide down on the counter and leaned in closer to get a good look at the bite. There were only two small cuts left, it was pretty much healed.

The dumbest thought crossed through my mind but I went with it anyway. I slid the bandaide towards the trash can and slit my palm on the corner of the countertop. Blood rose up and made a little pool in the palm of my hand. I stared at it wondering about vampirism. Why would a species live off of this? I lifted my hand up slowly towards my mouth. Would something happen if I got a taste of it again?

I quickly dropped my hand, unable to do it. The thought of trying blood, especially my own, grossed me out.

Really Chloe? That's why you're staring at blood? Because you think it tastes bad? I shook my head and rinsed my hand off. The cut was fairly shallow so it stopped bleeding once it was run under the water.

"You're fine, everything's fine, you just need to relax. You're not going vampire again," I whispered to myself in the mirror.

I brushed my hair and returned to the living room. Plopping down on the couch with a groan.

"You're not going to sleep just yet," Matt chuckled as he came in holding a glass of water from the kitchen.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because I need to tell you something," Matt sat on the coffee table beside the couch so he could talk quietly. "I didn't see the council today. I went back to Lydia's nest. I thought if you were having issues, I could get her help."

I sat up quickly.

"You shouldn't have gone there alone," I said. "Was that your blood on you?"

Matt chuckled and shook his head, "Your heart is too pure Chloe, you only worry about others. It wasn't mine."

"Where is Lydia?" I asked. She hadn't come in with him and I doubted she was sitting in the car this whole time.

"Well Elijah told me that he thinks your fine, he can't find any problems. So I didn't bring her back with me. But she'll come if we need it she said."

"I've been telling everyone since this magic alarm that I'm fine," I complained. "No one will listen to me."

Matt smiled again, "Chloe you are known for downplaying your problems. You can't blame Elijah and Tess for needing to see for themselves considering all their stress."

I shrugged, I guess that was fair.

"Wait, considering all their stress?" I asked.

Matt's eyes widened like he hadn't realized he said it.

"You know, the stress of not knowing you're alright," he said.

I narrowed my eyes, not believing that's what he meant. We sat in silence like that for a minute.

"I'll make you a deal," Matt said finally. "If you haven't figured it out by tomorrow night, I'll tell you. I'm not supposed to tell though."

I smiled, "Deal. Do I get a hint?"

"You already have one, they're stressed."

"That's not a hint," I pouted.

Matt smiled and got up from the table.

"Wait," I grabbed his hand. "I… think I want to try something tomorrow."

He sat back down, "Tomorrow? I'll have to go get Lydia, she doesn't have a phone."

I shook my head, "No, not with her. With you and maybe Emma. As long as Elijah's here to fix me if needed, I think it might be ok for me to try blood."

Saying it out loud grossed me out but I guessed it was worth trying. I felt like it would be the thing to trigger my vampire side and now was the best time to test the theory.

Matt didn't know how to react.

"You're going to try to get your vampire side back by drinking blood?"

I shrugged, "No, I don't want it back but I think that I should know whether or not something like that would bring it back and Elijah's already here if something does happen."

He sighed, "I get what you're saying, I don't like it but I get it. It's best to find out in a controlled environment."

Simon footsteps came down the stairs.

"We'll discuss it more tomorrow," Matt said, standing up. "Get some sleep."

Simon went into the kitchen in search of any missed food and Matt went upstairs.

"Were you going to tell me before you went and did that tomorrow?" Derek asked from the doorway. How long had he been there?

"I found crackers! Graham crackers!" Came from the kitchen, making me crack a smile.

Derek came in and sat beside me.

"I just thought of it as I told him," I said. I knew Derek would give me 'that's not an answer' as a response so I continued. "Yeah, I would've but I also would've asked you not to be there. If something happens, I don't want you to see me like that."

Derek turned and laid down on the couch, draping his legs across me.

"Well too bad," he said. "If you're doing that, I volunteer."

"Ok first, what're you doing?" I gestured at him laying in my makeshift couch bed. "And second, volunteer?"

Derek smiled, "I'm getting ready to go to sleep and," he outstretched his arm. "I volunteer my blood."

I pushed him over to make enough room for me to lay down beside him. I guess I was sharing the couch tonight.

"I was meaning more animal," I said as I pulled the blanket up over us.

"Oh I've got a wolf handy if you want animal."

I rolled my eyes.

**You weren't far off at all Thatreader2003, you were spot on! I'm going to have to get sneakier**


	116. untitled

**Just out of curiousity Thatreader2003, was there anything specific that made you think Tess is?**

I woke up sweating, it felt like a hundred degrees in here. I opened my eyes, the heat was coming from Derek. He was laying next to me, sweating, eyes half open half closed, his shirt and the blanket were on the floor.

I propped myself up on the pillow and shook him gently.

"Derek?" I whispered.

"Shhh," he said back. "Go back to sleep."

"No you're going to change," I said.

Derek laughed weakly, "I already did and back."

I pinched him gently on the arm, Derek eyes open all the way now.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I growled.

"I did it right here, it was fast, not my fault you didn't wake up," Derek replied.

"You were fine a few hours ago, what's wrong?" I asked, ignoring his snippiness.

He wasn't freaking out or anything when we went to sleep, what had brought this on?

"Shhh," he put a finger to my lips and closed his eyes again.

I huffed annoyed that I didn't know what was going on.

Derek opened his eyes and sighed, "My body's likely making sure I can change faster because of Jeremy. I've got to be able to defend myself at a moments notice. Remember that night we had a bonfire and you changed and attacked something in the field? Nate changed in maybe seconds so he could go after you. Alphas have to do it fast." He yawned. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

I nodded. Derek was asleep seconds later, I took a little longer to fall back asleep. It was still a hundred degrees laying beside him and every time I tried to scoot away, he'd pull me back.

The sun should have just starting to peak through the window when Derek woke me up but a thunder storm was pouring down rain instead.

"Hey," he said softly.

"No," I mumbled. "You got mad at me for waking you so you're not allowed to wake me."

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I didn't mean to be mean." His hand start sliding down from my shoulder to my side. "And if you don't wake up, I will tickle you."

I rolled over, eyes open, "Fine, I'm up."

"How badly do you want an audience with your experiment today?" Derek asked. "Because no one else is awake right now. I'll even close my eyes so it's like you're doing it alone."

I kind of liked the sound of that, I hadn't been thrilled about the idea of a bunch of people watching me drink blood.

"But I told Matt," I said.

"And you can tell him your not a show pony," Derek said. "He just has to deal with the outcome not the action."

Now was as good a time as any, I guess. I looked around for a knife or something nearby.

"Chloe," Derek said. "You have fangs for a reason. Just focus."

I took a deep breath and concentrated. It worked just like Derek said. I don't know why I was surprised, I'd seen werewolves be human with werewolf parts before. Though it was usually the claws.

Derek laid back on the pillow as I sat up.

"Pick a spot," he said like a smartass. I then realized he still wasn't wearing a shirt.

"I'm scared," I said though it was harder to talk with fangs.

"We don't have to if you don't want to, I'm not going to force-"

Before he could finish, I convinced myself I just needed to do it and not think. I bit into his shoulder. Derek hissed but kept quiet until I was done. He grabbed his shirt off the floor, wiped off my chin, then balled it up against his shoulder.

"A little warning would've been nice," he teased.

I focused on my breathing until the fangs went away.

"I thought if I waited any longer, I wouldn't do it," I said. "It was easy to talk myself out of doing it."

Derek pulled me back down onto the couch, careful to keep his shirt bandage over his shoulder.

"Feel any different?" Derek asked.

"Grossed out that I did that," I said.

Derek smiled and laughed.

"Where was Simon last night?" I asked, he was supposed to be sleeping in the living room too so he should've seen Derek's changing.

"He stayed up in my room so he wouldn't have to share the crackers with anyone," Derek said.

I rolled my eyes.

"How much did you hear Matt and I say last night?" I asked. "Because there's something up that I want to figure out today."

"I heard Matt say that, I'm curious too. What could be going on that you need to limit stress as much as possible?" Derek was thinking out loud now. "Maybe that's a cover up, maybe Nate finally decided to come looking at Tess' home again and they've been running from him. Or maybe she took in a new safe house tenant and they can't stand the new guy so they needed time away."

We threw ideas back and forth for a while until people started getting up. Matt and Tess tried their best to be as subtle as possible with getting everyone out of the house except for the adults and me but it was fairly obvious. Matt announced that everyone was coming to the store with him, the more hands the faster it would be. Then Tess and Elijah butted in saying they wanted to take me and Derek out to breakfast. You could tell they were trying to get us alone but no one said anything.

I pulled Emma aside by the front door as everyone was walking out.

"How're you doing?" I asked.

"I'm still doing alright," she said. "I don't need to hunt for a few days." She looked at me suspiciously. "There's something else isn't there, you wouldn't pull me aside just to ask how I'm doing."

"I'm stalling trying to figure out how to phrase it," I admitted. "I think Derek and Jeremy are going to start having issues soon since he finally changed. There's bound to be a fight for dominance or whatever it'd be called."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, I could see it happening. Do we do anything?"

I shrugged, "I don't think we can, I'm not sure if we even should. I just wanted to make sure you were aware because we might have to intervene if they get physical."

She thought for a second, "You're probably right. When I still lived with my pack, they would let people fight out their problems. They didn't try to stop the werewolf nature. We should just keep an eye on them for now."

I always forgot that Emma lived with a pack before she was with the vampires.

"You know what," I said changing the subject. "We're going to find your family after we finish in this town."

Emma's eyes lit up, "Oh that would be wonderful!"

Someone at the car called for Emma to hurry up. She quickly hugged me then jogged to the car. I stepped back in and shut the door.

"I'm glad to see you're all still looking out for each other," Tess smiled at me. She'd heard us talking. "You know that finding a werewolf pack will be hard though."

I followed her to the dining table and sat down. I wondered why she didn't ask why we would need to find Emma's pack. Tess didn't know anything about Emma after all.

"I know it will but it'll be worth it when we find them." I looked over Tess as subtly as I could, trying to find any clue to whatever Matt wasn't telling me.

"You like it?" Tess saw me looking at her clothes. "I've been obsessed with this sweatshirt since I bought it." She flipped the end of her sleeve inside out and held it out to me. "Feel how soft it is."

I felt it and it was incredibly soft. Now sidetracked by clothes, I asked, "Where'd you get it?"

"That strip mall I took you shopping at," she said. "Speaking of which, I should've brought some of the clothes you left behind. Those jeans look terrible."

I looked down at my jeans and grinned, they really did. No matter how often I scrubbed them, there were permanent stains everywhere and the ankles were starting to fall apart. Elijah and Derek came in.

"Women," Elijah rolled his eyes jokingly. "We leave you alone for a second and you talk clothes."

Derek sat in the chair beside me, Elijah stood leaning his elbows on the back of Tess' chair.

"So what exactly are we doing?" Derek asked.

"To be straightforward, I'm not sure yet," Elijah said. "We need to figure out what alerted the magic. But if nothings wrong in her head, I don't know how to figure that out."

"Nothing being wrong with her head is a good thing though," Tess reminded him.

Elijah nodded, "Yeah I know. But it complicates things."

"Derek told you on the phone that I've been around another hybrid lately. Including the day your alarm went off. Are you sure that has nothing to do with it?" I asked.

"I don't-" Elijah started.

"The Emma girl right?" Tess cut him off. "Did she bite you?"

The question I was hoping they wouldn't ask. Crap.

"I fell in a creek and got hurt while we were out together, that's all," I said.

"Where'd you get hurt?" Elijah asked.

"Side of her neck," Derek said.

Elijah's eyes narrowed, "The neck huh? You fell in a creek and cut only your neck?"

I tensed running out of excuses.

"She's not on trial EJ," Tess snapped at him.

Derek reached over under the table and took my hand. He could probably feel how tense I was.

"What're you not saying?" He asked softly. "You know that you and Emma won't get in trouble."


	117. Bugbears

**As you guys have probably noticed, I've been increasing my chapter lengths. Most of them have been around 1300 words and the last chapter was 1700 words. Are these lengths too long? I don't want to throw too much info into one chapter.**

I dropped my head onto the table with a thud, "I made a promise not to talk about what went on that day."

"Chloe your health is more important than a promise," Elijah said.

The chair creaked as Elijah stopped leaning against it.

"EJ," Tess said in a warning voice.

I looked back up to see what I was missing. Elijah had stepped towards me.

"If she doesn't want to say it, I'll just watch it then," he said.

Alright their stress was making them be a little impatient and irrational. Good to know. Tess stood from her chair.

"Don't you lay a hand on her without her saying it's ok," she growled.

"Tess," I tried to calm the situation. "If he promises not to repeat it to anyone, he can know."

She sat back down.

"I promise," Elijah nodded. "As long as you promise to show me the truth."

I nodded. Elijah placed his fingertips on my temples and muttered something under his breath. I mentally put myself back into the woods. Telling Emma what I planned to do to help her, changing, her chasing me and catching me in the creek, getting bitten and changing back, and her helping me afterwards.

Elijah took his fingers off my temples and went back to leaning against Tess' chair. I could be reading too much into it but that seemed like clue number two, they were sticking close together. What that meant? I had no diea, Derek did that to me any time he was stressed. I waited for Elijah to say something, anything. He just nodded towards Derek, trying to hint I needed to look that way instead.

My heart sank as I looked over at Derek, it'd been so long since something happened. I'd forgotten about our weird mental connection… he'd watched it too. Derek was just staring at me.

"Chloe," Derek said finally. "That was dangerous and stupid."

I tried to play it off cool even though he could probably hear my heart racing.

"It's in the past," I said. "I was just helping a friend."

Tess sighed, "Alright now I have to know. I'm the only one here who doesn't and that's not fair."

Before I could respond to Tess, Derek tried to backtrack so it didn't seem like he was too angry with me.

"If you do that again, take me with," he said.

"I helped her out," I told Tess. Not sure how to respond to Derek. "She needs to learn to hunt animals while we're here so I was the training animal. She chased me so she could learn to chase deer. She needs to learn control because she doesn't want to kill, who better to learn control from than the person you would never want to kill."

"Chloe," Tess put on her motherly voice. "That's very courageous and kind of you. But very dangerous. You definitely can't go again in case she loses control."

"You guys cannot repeat anything," I looked at all of them. "She's terrified of what people think of her. And Matt said she can't feed from us or she'll be in trouble."

Derek rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.

"Elijah? What do you think? Could that have been the alarm trigger?" He asked.

Elijah frowned, "You're not going to like what I have to say."

What was he going to say? That it wasn't the trigger and he'd have to go digging deeper into my brain?

"I don't like it but I think the only way to know for sure is to do it again," he said.

"What?!" Tess shot to her feet. "No!"

Derek gripped my hand tighter.

"It makes sense," I said. "If it sets off his alarm again then we know that's all it was."

"I don't like it," Derek said. "Nothing against Emma, it's just not safe to keep losing blood like you've been."

"She's not doing it then," Tess insisted. "Chloe tell me you're not doing it."

"Tess," I said. "You heard Emma say that she's doing fine right now, right?"

She nodded.

"So, she'd have the control to just bite me and leave it. I won't really get hurt."

Tess still wasn't convinced but Derek's phone buzzed in his pocket, distracting us.

He pulled it out, "It's Matt."

Derek clicked answer, he didn't need to put it on speaker. We all had werewolf hearing.

"Hey," Matt said. There was lots of noise in the background. "How busy are you guys right now?"

"Not much, just making a game plan. Why?"

"Good. Good. Um, V has gotten himself into some trouble. I need you and Chloe to get over to the apartment complex like now."

"We will," Derek hung up and put his phone back in his pocket.

I looked out at the pouring rain.

"Would you mind driving us?" I asked Elijah.

Ten minutes later Derek and I were walking into the building. A woman was standing there with her arms crossed. She reminded me of a strict librarian with her glasses on a chain and the neatly pressed business suit. On the floor beside her sat V with his arms cuffed behind his back.

He watched us and smelled the air for my scent.

"What a disgrace," he spat. "The vampire control squad has not one but two vampires on it. You're a dishonor to the species."

I came up to him and squatted in front of him.

"Is that so?" I asked. "Because I'm not a vampire. I'm a necromancer."

V watched me puzzled as I stood back up.

Derek looked at the lady.

"What happened?" He asked.

"What happened is she's nuts," V cut her off. "I'm trying to take care of a pest problem and she stopped me. Says the pests have rights here and I can't harm them."

"Pests?" Derek asked the lady.

"Mr. V was placed in the apartment beside a group of bugbears," she said.

She even had the librarian voice.

"Bugbears?" I asked.

"Ever heard of the boogeyman?" V asked. "Those nasty things that haunt the night and kill children."

I sat down on the floor in front of V with my legs crossed.

"You attacked your neighboring apartment because of their species?" I asked him.

V's smile sent chills down my spine.

"Don't act so innocent," he lowered his voice. "Your group attacks vampires because of their species."

I opened my mouth to argue with him but Derek set a hand on my shoulder, signaling me to quiet down.

"What is it you want us to do about this?" Derek asked the woman. "You have him in cuffs already."

"I-" she started then stopped. "I want him punished for hurting my other tenants."

Derek nodded, "Extra time will be added to his debt for this."

"That's not enough," she argued.

"Then what else do you want?" I asked.

She didn't have any ideas in mind that she could give us so we ended up bringing V back up to his apartment. V tried to shut the door in our face but Derek stopped him.

"Oh no. We aren't going anywhere," Derek said. "You've lost the right to be on your own. Now you get a babysitter."

V grumbled something under his breath and stepped aside to let us in.


	118. Chapter 118

**I do agree that not a whole ton has been happening these last few chapters. I felt I needed to gradually build up to the issues with V instead of diving right in because I'm trying to not jump from problem to problem with the characters like I used to. Things will pick up here shortly don't worry. **

**I'm glad the longer chapters are alright with you guys because it allows me to be more detailed in things and include longer lengths of time (usually, sometimes I get carried away with detail).**

**With this place being a supernatural town, I feel I needed to include as many supernatural species as I can even if they are mentioned in passing like these bugbears were. I want to do more research into species before I start including them as minor characters because I want to make sure I get them right. But you guys will be seeing different species interacting with the main characters very soon. Maybe even these bugbears lol idk. Possibly a fight, I haven't decided the scenario yet because I don't want too many things going on for the characters at a time because then things get forgotten by me and left behind and I have to try to figure out how to casually tie old loose ends together. So I wouldn't be expecting anything major with new species for a bit, Chloe or V got to get their stuff wrapped up first.**

**Also I am trying to figure out a way to bring Chloe's necromancy powers back in since that's been a while. Maybe one of the minor characters to come will be a necromancer or something.**

I didn't really know what to do while we sat in V's apartment. Derek was in no mood for conversation. I had a gut feeling he was still angry with me for helping Emma.

"Cards?" V asked Derek and I.

Derek shook his head.

I shrugged, "Sure."

It was better than the awkward silence. V started shuffling a deck.

"What's your name necro?" V asked me.

"Necro will do just fine," I answered.

V smiled, "I think I might like you Necro. At least more than your friends."

He dealt a hand for both of us on the little table in front of him and gestured for me to sit across. I sat down and picked up the cards.

"What're we playing?" I asked.

V set the stack in between us, "Crazy 8s."

I don't what I expected but I hadn't expected that.

"What?" V tilted his head. "It's fitting since I'm apparently a little crazy."

Derek rolled his eyes.

We played cards for a while and made casual conversation. When V wasn't angry, he didn't seem like that bad a guy. I was tempted to ask him why he had such problems with other supernatural creatures when the two girls came home with bags and bags of stuff.

"V we got supplies," the first girl said as she walked in.

From the look I was being given, I could tell she was the grumpier girl Lily. I smiled as Scarlet walked in, Simon had told me she goes nuts around Derek. Scarlet was looking down at a phone as she kicked the door shut behind her.

"And we got a phone," Scarlet said. "But the setup is taking forever."

She caught the new scents and looked up and saw Derek, a smile appeared on her lips.

"Why I didn't know we were having guests," she set the phone and bags off to the side and quickly seated herself beside Derek.

Normally I would've been growling and jealous but the discomfort on Derek's face was actually amusing. This girls interest in him really made him uncomfortable. Besides, I told V I was necromancer not werewolf so I couldn't really act werewolf.

"I'm being punished for pest control," V told them.

"V," Scarlet groaned. "Just because they aren't vampire doesn't mean they're pests." She leaned her head against Derek's shoulder and looked up at him. "He can be over dramatic, he won't hurt anyone."

Derek moved away from her, "He did hurt someone though."

V rolled his eyes, "I barely did anything. I landed two shots before the witch showed up."

"V come on," Lily spoke this time. "I don't want to have to move again because you can't grow up."

"Moving around is part of being a vampire," V glared at her. He was not a fan of backtalk it seemed. "I've been telling you this for seven years now. Get it through your head."

And that's how things went for a few hours or so before others showed up. Derek tried to dodge Scarlet's advances and V bickered with everyone. Lily stayed out of the conversation as much as she could. She spent the time unpacking and arranging their new possessions.

It was Tori and Simon who showed up to take the late afternoon/dinner shift watching V and it couldn't have come sooner. I was starving to the point of my stomach hurting.

"Hey," Simon said to me. "Can I talk to you for a minute before you go?"

We ducked out into the hall while Derek introduced Tori to everyone.

"What is it?" I asked Simon.

"It's pretty funny to watch Scar with Derek, isn't it?" Simon chuckled.

I nodded, "Yeah but why doesn't she get the hint that he's not interested?"

Simon shrugged. "There's so much going on in the land of Scarlet's mind that she probably doesn't notice the hints. Listen, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

I waited for him to continue.

"Are… are you and Derek… like officially back together?"

I had to stop and think about that actually.

"I… I don't know," I admitted. "We kind of talked about getting back together but its not official yet I guess. I mean he didn't like ask me out again yet we just talked about it."

"Good," Simon said then paused. "That came out wrong. What I mean is I was hoping you'd say something like that because there's just something I need to do before you're back together."

"What's that?" I asked.

Simon slid one hand behind my back like he was going to hug me but his other hand went behind my head. He pulled me closer and kissed me. Simon pushed me against the wall softly and kissed me like I was the last girl he would ever get to kiss for the rest of his life.

When he pulled back, he let go of the back of my head and touched my cheek. I opened my eyes.

"Don't get me wrong," he said softly staying close to my face. "I'm happy for you two. But that doesn't mean you weren't the one for me too. I'll always love you."

He kissed me again, a lot softer this time. Then let go and stepped back as Derek stepped out the door.

The rain had lightened, I wouldn't have minded walking home in the drizzle. But Matt was waiting for us out front in the car.

I climbed in the backseat and leaned my head against the cold window, Derek sat in the passenger seat.

"How were things?" Matt asked.

Derek shrugged, "V can't get it through his head why we think attacking the bugbears was wrong. But he didn't do anything while we were there. I think the sooner they find him a job, the better. V needs something to occupy his time."

Matt glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"You alright?" He asked.

I nodded, "My stomach just hurts, I missed breakfast."

"Let's get some food in you when we get back then. Do you-" Matt started then stopped, he thought Derek didn't know about our conversation from last night.

"I don't want to do it today," I said. "And Derek knows, he heard us."

Derek nodded.

"Does that mean I have to include you in the secret deal?" Matt asked Derek. He was referring to Elijah and Tess.

"Yes," I answered for him. "Matt, did Elijah talk to you about this morning?"

Matt sighed, "Yes. I don't like it. Recreating a dangerous situation is well dangerous."

"Thank you," Derek mumbled.

I let the conversation go, not wanting to hear more arguing.

We got home and I immediately curled up on the couch, a nap suddenly sounded like a better idea than food. Footsteps padded my way.

"Looks like my spots been taken," Jeremy smiled and sat down beside me. He had a bowl of popcorn in his hands. "Here, have some." I took a handful. "I heard you had to deal with the vampire."

I nodded munching on the pieces one by one, "I guess. There wasn't much to do, this librarian looking lady had taken care of it already. We just babysat him after she'd had enough of him."

Jeremy chuckled at my description of the woman.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" I asked taking another handful.

Jeremy shrugged, "I'm not really sure. It was just nice to get out of the house maybe. I've been cooped up here trying to change since we got here pretty much."

"I'm glad you're handling it so well," I said

"All thanks to you and Emma," Jeremy said. "I couldn't have got through it without my pack."

I smiled but the my pack part concerned me. Was that a my pack I'm part of or a my pack I run? Maybe I'm overthinking things again.


	119. Chapter 119

I watched movies with everyone for a while. The rain came back so no one wanted to go outside and do anything. I waited for Emma to separate from the group and went to talk to her when she finally got up to go to the kitchen.

"Hey," I said. "I need your help."

"With what?" Emma asked as she pulled a bag of potato chips from the shelf.

I tapped my neck on the spot she'd bitten me.

"Could you do it again?" I asked. Realizing as I said it that she didn't know why I'd be asking.

Emma just stared at me bewildered.

"Why?" She asked.

I hesitated. How much of the truth should I say?

"Alright um look Elijah thought his work on my head went haywire. That's why they're here. But I'm convinced that all he detected was when you did this to me because he called me that night. I want you to do it again and if Elijah gets alerted again then we know for sure that's all it is."

Emma took a second to process everything I'd just thrown at her.

"Alright," she nodded. "When?"

I looked over at the clock on the stove. We had two hours before dinner time.

"Preferably now," I shrugged. "But Derek should come with. They'll know exactly what we're up to if you and I disappear alone."

"He's going to kill me," Emma said.

I shook my head, "He won't. I'll make sure he keeps his temper in check."

Emma went back into the living room to grab Derek while I went upstairs. She told him she needed help with her English work. When Derek stepped into Emma's bedroom and saw me sitting on the bed, he frowned.

"This isn't about English," he said. "Did you tell Emma? You two aren't going to do this right now are you?"

"You said it yourself, I don't want an audience. And you also said to include you so here you go," I said. "You can't be mad if you're here to make sure everything goes smoothly."

Emma stepped out to grab the bathroom towel in case of emergency bleeding. She probably thought Derek was about to yell.

"Speaking of that," Derek said while she was gone. "How're you doing?"

"I'm alright," I said honestly. "The no breakfast stomach pain made me a little scared something was happening but I'm all good."

"Good," Derek nodded.

Emma came back in and shut the door behind her.

"I don't like this," Derek said. "You could get hurt Chloe."

"We know the risk," Emma said. "But it's not your decision to make so guard the door and zip it."

Both of us were caught by surprise by Emma arguing with him. Derek crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. His expression giving away he didn't like her telling him what to do.

Emma sat down on the bed with me, towel by her side. 

"Ready?" She asked me. "I'm not going to take any blood."

I nodded. She put one hand under my chin and one on my shoulder. I listened to Derek shuffle with anxiety and discomfort as Emma put her fangs in the same place on my neck. I don't blame Derek for not liking this but at least he was silently acknowledging that the theory needed to be tested.

Honestly, I'll admit I thought Emma was going to lose a little bit of control and take some blood. But she didn't. She just bit and let go, grabbed the towel and held it up to my neck.

"I tried not to go as deep as I did before," she said.

There was a knock on the door.

"We're a bit busy right now with my classwork," Emma called out.

Elijah's voice responded, "Yeah I know you're not doing school stuff."

"Let him in," I mouthed to Derek.

Derek got off the door and opened it, letting Elijah in. Elijah looked at Derek and shook his head.

"I thought you were against this," he said.

"I was," Derek said. "But I didn't really have much say."

Elijah looked to me, "Your little stunt worked, it was just the bite."

I wanted to shout out that's what I'd been telling him all along but I stayed quiet. He was not happy about me doing this alone and I wasn't going to make things worse with an I told you so.

"I'm glad that's all it is," I said.

Elijah nodded, "Me too."

Elijah walked up to me and took the towel from my hand. He tilted my head slightly to the side and looked at the bite as he whispered a few words.

"What're you doing?" Derek stepped closer.

"Healing her," Elijah said. "It's a minor wound but I'm not allowing temptation to walk around the house."

So I guess he didn't trust Emma very much if he thought me having a few cuts would set her off into some vampire frenzy.

I grabbed Elijah's hand as he let go of me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

He blinked, "Huh?"

"With you and Tess," I said. "Somethings up, you both have been acting differently."

Elijah shrugged, "You know that I had a history with Tess before you guys were around. I finally won her back. People act differently when they're in a relationship Chloe."

"There's something else," Derek pressed.

He bit his lip, "I shouldn't say. The less who know the better."

Emma finally joined in the conversation. She probably felt she could say things blatantly since Elijah already didn't seem to be a fan of her.

"How does that work?" She asked. "The less people who know about what's causing you misery the better? I think it's the more people who know the more help you could get."

"Misery?" Elijah smiled. "I'm not miserable at all, I'm stressed about making sure they work out."

"They?" I asked. "Is Tess seeing someone else too?"

That couldn't be, Tess wasn't that kind of person.

"No no," Elijah shook his head. Relief washed over me.

Emma huffed annoyed, "Are you going to tell us or keep dragging this out?"

"Go ahead," came from the doorway that'd been left open. Tess was standing there now. "It can't hurt to tell them."

Elijah seemed to forget the conversation, he walked over to Tess, "I told you to wait downstairs."

"Chloe looks fine to me," Tess said. "So crisis averted. Now back to what you were talking about…" she paused. "Chloe's going to have a little sister or brother."

My heart filled with joy for them. Tess had always wanted a family! I jumped up and came over to hug her.

"Congratulations," I smiled. Out of the corner of my eye I swore I saw Derek taking a step back from everyone.

Once it was out, the news spread quickly through the rest of the house. Simon was overjoyed when he heard after he and Tori switched shifts with Matt and Emma.

"I'm finally going to be Uncle Simon," he said proudly.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at him.

I thought everyone knowing what was going on with them and getting a definitive answer with me would help lessen their stress, and it did seem that way for Tess. She was smiling a lot again. Elijah on the other hand was stressing more. He barely left Tess alone and didn't even touch his dinner.

"Can you help me load the dishwasher?" I asked Elijah after dinner.

He did, I rinsed off the plates and he stacked them into the dishwasher.

"You need to unwind before you force yourself to change," I said to him.

"Everybody knows now," Elijah said. "Someone could hurt her on purpose."

"Elijah," I shook my head. "Other than V, this is the safest supernatural place you two could be. No one is going to hurt anyone here. Besides that, there's only two other werewolves in the whole town and they're super nice."

I saw that all too familiar shoulder twitch.

"You don't understand Chloe," he said. "All the things that could go wrong…"

He was right, I could pretend all I wanted to but I didn't know anything about what he was going through.

"Promise you'll at least try to see the bright side sometimes?" I asked.

Elijah nodded, "Sure."

"You know," I said changing the subject. "It's got to help some that I've got proof I'm okay."

Elijah smiled, "Yeah it does. I can't imagine what we'd have to do."

I suggested movie quality ideas. Locking me in a basement and leaving me on V's doorstep where Elijah's favorites.

"From what I've heard about those vampires, you'd last a week before they drove you insane," he laughed. "And I already tried locking you in Tess' basement remember? You're too good at sneaking out."

"Hey," Tess popped back into the kitchen. "The rain has stopped and it's not dark out yet so we're all going to go for a walk to burn off some energy from sitting around all day."

I expected Elijah to say no but he thought it was a good idea. He probably wanted to work off some energy to hold off changing. Elijah wasn't anywhere close to it but his shoulder was still twitching occasionally.

Two blocks later I pulled Derek to the back of the group to talk.

"What's with you?" I asked. "I saw you back up earlier and now you won't go anywhere near them."

Derek took my hand, "I'm afraid of doing something wrong."

"What do you mean?" I asked. My attention was so focused on Derek that I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. If it wasn't for Derek holding my hand, I would've fallen.

"The only thing worse than having a kid is having something bad happen to it," Derek said. "And we all know I'm dangerous, I hurt others without trying."

I chuckled when he said that.

"You just saved me from a scraped knee and total embarrassment. How're you dangerous?"

Derek rolled his eyes. One good deed wasn't enough to convince him he wasn't dangerous. Derek had hurt a lot of people over the years but it was usually in self defense. That didn't matter to him though, hurt was hurt no matter the reason.

When we got back to the house, Matt and Emma had returned. Matt said that the council found V a night janitor job at the city hall building. He wouldn't be near anyone and he'd be under the surveillance of the security guards.

**Now you can probably see why I asked Thatreader2003 lol. I was wondering if I accidentally dropped an obvious hint.**


	120. Carnival

**I've been trying to figure out how this will impact Derek. He obviously considered Tess to be part of his pack when he lived with her. But would he still now? I think probably, because of her importance to Chloe. I don't know how he's going to handle it, he could come around and see that it's not as scary as he's always thought it was and that not all protecting relies solely on him. Or he could distance himself more because he thinks he'll have a negative impact if he does anything.**

The group gradually divided up as it got dark out, the adults decided to go to bed but the rest of us still had energy. We didn't feel like sitting around and watching more movies so we decided to have a small bonfire in the backyard.

Simon chuckled to himself as he and I grabbed handfuls of logs from the woodpile.

"What?" I asked.

"Doesn't something go wrong every time we have a fire?"

I smiled, "We're breaking the routine tonight. Everyone's safe and sound."

Emma walked up, took the logs from my arms and set them on top of the logs Simon was carrying.

"Here," she said. "Now go."

Simon raised an eyebrow at me, I shrugged.

"Let the chaos begin," he smiled and walked back to the firepit.

"You alright?" I asked. "That was a little rude."

"I know," Emma ran a hand through her hair. "Matt said the same thing to me earlier. I can't help it. I think Jeremy's going to change again soon."

Their mate connection fascinated me that they'd get short tempered when the other was going to change. I hadn't really seen that in anyone else.

"He made it through before, he'll be alright," I filled her arms with a couple of logs. "I'll help you keep yourself in check if you'd like."

Emma nodded, "I'd appreciate that, I really don't want to make people mad at me."

I grabbed logs and we walked back to the firepit where Derek and Jeremy were bickering over how to start the fire. Derek had crumpled up some newspaper and was building up sticks around it. Jeremy kept saying he was doing it wrong.

Simon smiled at me from his chair and mouthed, "I told you so."

I dumped my logs next to where Simon's were and sat down. Emma looked at the pair as she dumped hers and opened her mouth. I quickly tapped her on the back of her calf with my foot. When she turned around I shook my head, trying to convey that they needed to work it out. She didn't need to get caught in the middle.

The fire got started after Derek decided to just tune Jeremy out and drop a lit match on the newspapers. I convinced myself everything was still alright, when you practically spend all day and night with someone you were bound to bicker. This wasn't an alpha thing.

We had smores and listened to Tori tell ghost stories until it got late.

Simon took Derek's room again so it was just the two of us in the living room.

"I think we should help Emma find her pack when we're done with V," I said as I adjusted my blanket.

"What?" Derek said surprised.

"She hasn't seen them since she was a kid. We should find them it would mean the world to her."

Derek thought about it.

"We wouldn't all be able to go if we found where they were. Werewolves would see that as a new pack trying to take their territory."

"But we can do it?!" I smiled.

Derek nodded, "Sure."

He kissed my forehead and I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face.

**Derek's POV**

Just like the other night, I woke up sweating. My body was determined to keep me at the top of the pack. I gently slid out from the blanket, trying not to wake Chloe, and got on my hands and knees.

Minutes later I was laying there panting as a wolf. Just because I was getting faster didn't mean it hurt less. That was always going to suck. I wondered when I would be able to do this at will like my father did. That would be more useful than changing practically every night to get faster.

After I changed back to human, I showered to try to cool off. When I got back to the couch, Chloe's eyes were open a little.

"Where'd you go?" She mumbled not fully awake.

I laid back down, pulling her close.

"Shower," I answered though she'd already fallen back asleep.

My mind wandered through the days events. Particularly Tess and Elijah's news. I am absolutely terrified of the situation. Elijah must be on edge, watching every move I make, looking at intent. He was much older than me, he could easily beat me if he took something I did the wrong way. What if I actually do something though? It could be as simple as Tess tripping and me not catching her quick enough. What if V shows up here?! He knew our scents, he could track down where we were staying if he wanted to hurt us.

**Chloe's POV**

Every so often I was woken up by Derek moving around. He wasn't having an easy time sleeping tonight. When morning came he was finally out, I hoped no one would come pounding down the stairs and wake him.

Matt was the first to come down, he was talking to someone on the phone softly. When he was done, I snuck around Derek and joined Matt out back with two coffees.

He took one of the mugs from me, "Is this apology coffee?"

I raised an eyebrow confused.

"For going behind my back and feeding Emma when I said not to," Matt sipped the mug.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I was just trying to help her learn to hunt animals."

Matt settled into one of the chairs, "She won't have to. The owners of this house are returning in a week. So we only have a week left here."

"What about the vampires?" I asked.

"I'm a vampire hunter not a vampire babysitter," Matt said. "It's the councils job now."

"Is that who you were talking to on the phone? Were you telling the council you're done?"

Matt smiled, "No actually I was getting us tickets for a supernatural carnival."

"A what?" I set my mug down.

"You kids need to see more of the supernatural world you're a part of. There's a carnival in town today and tomorrow where there's rides and stuff like a human carnival and tons of supernaturals showcasing their abilities."

I grabbed Matt and hugged him.

"That's awesome!"

That afternoon we arrived at the fairgrounds and it was awesome. There was food everywhere that sounded like they were straight from a harry potter movie. I thought about trying to find a big sugary elephant ear, my nanny would always get me one when we went to the fair. But I saw a woman walk by with an actual elephants ear and I knew I wouldn't find traditional carnival food here.

We all separated to explore. Simon, Derek, and I went straight to the rides. We took the ferris wheel first so we could get a good view of everything there was to do. Simon spotted a haunted house maze.

"We have to do that," he said. "Can you image what a haunted house ride is for supernaturals? They aren't dropping fake skeletons from the ceiling I bet."

So we got in line and when we got to go in, I made Derek go first. I didn't want him to see me jump at every little scare.

We first had to get through a maze of glass walls and find our way to the stairs. As soon as all three of us were on the stairs, they turned to goo and we fell through to the basement.

A voice echoed around us, "Choose your path wisely for only one be safe."

Two skinny hallways lit up to two different staircases. Simon made it halfway down the first hallway before all the lights turned red and something reached down from the ceiling. Before we could call out and warn him, it snatched him up.

We took the other hallway and nothing happened. When we got to the top of the stairs, Simon was waiting for us with a huge smile. He was having the time of his life. We had to find our way through the glass walls again and ended up at a different staircase. The boys went up first and I followed behind. As Derek stepped on the top step there was a clicking sound and my step disappeared. He tried to grab for me but I fell through.

I expected to hit something hard but I landed on a bouncy house behind the haunted house. A woman lifted me off and checked me for injuries. She was wearing a black sports bra and dark jean shorts which made her snowy white hair and pale skin stand out more.

"You know, I think that ride is horrible," she said. Her voice was very high pitch. "Isn't our lives hard enough? Why would we want to go scaring ourselves on purpose?"

I shrugged, "I think it can be fun because you know you're actually safe."

I noticed almost butterfly-like purple wings on the woman's back. They were so thin I swore I could see through them.

I blinked, realizing I was staring.

"You haven't met one of my kind before," she commented.

I shook my head, there was a sound above the bouncy house.

"Here comes your friends," she said. "I'm a snow fairy."

I was about to say that I thought fairies weren't the same size as humans when Derek and Simon came tumbling down. I was relieved to see both of them laughing.

"Hey!" Simon smiled. "You alright?"

I nodded, "How about you two?"

They both nodded and got up, the new girl catching their attention.

"Hi," she smiled. "I'm Amy, a snow fairy."

"How often do you come around here Amy?" Simon asked. "Because I would die for a lemonade right now."

"Right this way," she said and lead us back towards the food section.

Derek took my hand, knowing it was all for fun in the house must've helped him not freak out about me disappearing.

We bought lemonades and found a picnic table, as I was about to take a sip she spoke up.

"Wait wait! They always skimp on the ice here, open your cup."

Curious to see what she was going to do, we all opened our lids. Amy lifted her hand and twirled her finger while whispering something. I thought nothing was happening at first until I looked down at my cup. She was creating ice cubes out of thin air and dropping them in our cups.

"There," she smiled. "Ice cold lemonades always better."

I gawked in amazement. The ice cubes had teeny tiny arms and were swimming around the lemonade.

"So snow fairies can make ice?" Derek asked.

Amy shrugged, "If it's winter or cold related, I can probably make it."

"Can I ask something that might be rude?" Derek asked.

Amy nodded.

"If you're a winter supernatural, why are you dressed like you're in Florida right now?"

It was a good question, she seemed like she was dressed for ninety degree weather and it was probably sixty degrees out.

Amy chuckled, "If it's above like thirty degrees, it's hot for me. My kind don't usually function well if it's not snowing out."


	121. Carnival pt 2

**Do you guys think Derek will every relax enough to rethink what he wants for the future? I think he'll calm down eventually but I'm not sure if he'll get to that, it depends on how long Tess and Elijah are around though. If they go back home when some of these guys go looking for Emma's family then it doesn't matter much. But I could have them come along on the journey for a bit if we wanted which would allow Derek to relax. I just am hesitant on that because of how I tend to go like a day or two a chapter, it would seem like forever until the baby came and I don't think it's a good story if there's occasional month long time skips because there's so much you're potentially missing.**

When we were done with our lemonades we went back on the rides. After getting whipped around for the fourth ride, I was feeling sick to my stomach.

"I'm going to stay off the next one," I said. "I need a breather."

They got on the next ride which spun you in at least three directions at once. I definitely would have thrown up if I'd gone on it.

"Chloe!" I heard behind me.

Tess and Tori came walking up.

"Hi," I smiled.

"Did you wimp out already?" Tori asked.

I rolled my eyes and ignored her.

"I've got something to show you that you'll never believe," Tess smiled eagerly.

We waited until the boys got off so they wouldn't think I'd disappeared. I asked them to come with but Derek was still hesitant to be near Tess. Simon dragged him to a bumper cart ride as we walked away.

Tess chuckled once we were out of earshot of the boys.

"Derek's not to happy with me is he?"

"It's not you," I shook my head. "It's the situation. You know how he thinks he breaks everything he touches."

"Well he does," Tori commented. "I mean look at you. You used to be an innocent girl who didn't even know about necromancy. Now you're… this…"

She gestured at me as she said 'this.'

"Tori enough," Tess glared. "One more comment and you are going home."

A man what looked like a lizard stopped us. He seemed to have scales instead of skin.

"Hey is everything ok here?" He asked.

"We're fine, thank you," Tess smiled politely.

Tori huffed, "Well actually I could use your help if you're offering. Where's the bathrooms?"

The man pointed off to our left with his snake like tongue. Tori smiled.

"I can't see them," she put on her best act. "Could you take me to them?"

He nodded and started walking in the direction he pointed in. Tori smiled at me and followed him.

"You're just going to let her walk away with a complete stranger?" I looked at Tess.

She waved it off, "She's fine. Now come on, it's right up here."

Tess lead me to a red and gold tent, as soon as we stepped inside I was blasted with heat. She lead me to the stands where we sat down.

"Why's it so hot in here?" I asked.

Tess smiled, "Watch."

A man dressed like he was from the circus came out into the center of the tent.

"Thank you all for coming, please remain seated during the show. We do not want anyone to get burned."

Everyone quieted down. The wall of the tent shimmered as something climbed down off of it. The thing was huge, it had a scaly body and razor sharp horns on it's head. It came up to the performer and stood towering over him. The performer lifted his arms and the thing stretched huge blackish green wings out from its side.

"Is that-" I looked at Tess.

She nodded. It was a real actual dragon.

The performer walked the dragon around for a moment letting us see all of it. It's tail whipped into the bottom row of seats which were thankfully empty. Then he pulled out a whistle. One blow into the whistle and the dragon flapped its wings, lifting itself off the ground. It flew circles around, picking up what speed it could in the confined area. The performer let him fly around for a while then blew the whistle and the dragon came back down to the ground. It's glowing green eyes stared at the crowd giving me shivers.

The performer yelled something that sounded like 'yip' and the dragon took a step back and lowered it's head. It took a long slow inhale then released a ball of fire from it's mouth. I cheered with the crowd as the dragon did it again.

"That was awesome," I said as we exited after the show.

"Better than a lion jumping through a hoop?" Tess asked.

I nodded enthusiastically.

"Let's see what else we can find," Tess smiled.

We walked for a minute, looking around at the other tent signs. I had a question in the back of my mind that I couldn't wait to ask anymore.

"Tess," I said. "How can you do this?"

She looked confused at my question.

"How can you go to a show with a fire breathing dragon? How can you walk around without Elijah? How can you do all this stuff like nothings changed?"

Tess smiled, "Because nothing has changed for me. Elijah might be freaking out but I'm just not. This is something I've always wanted so why would I panic? I know my limits I know what's safe and what isn't. I'm not going to stop living my life, I'm not going to freak out. It's a little stressful but it's the best thing to ever happen to me." Then she added teasingly, "I'm not Derek, I see the good in my situation."

I wanted to talk to her more about it but of course we couldn't have a nice uneventful day. V spotted me and came walking up.

"Ay! Necro!" V said as he walked up.

"Hi," I said. "Paying off some debt?"

V was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, both were covered in dirt. He had a trash bag in each hand.

"Yeah," he nodded. "They figured if I picked up trash all day today and tomorrow I could get a good amount of it paid."

"Good," I smiled.

"Who's this?" Tess asked.

V looked her over, "Don't have a name. Do you?"

Before Tess could answer, I said, "This is the vampire called V."

"Pleasure to meet you," Tess put her hand out. I'm sure she was just trying to be polite.

V took her hand and shook it before lightly yanking on it and pulling her close.

"Hey," I got in between them and grabbed V's arm.

"Relax," V said in the soft tone that gave me chills. "I'm just getting her scent."

"Let go of her," I growled.

My grip tightened around his arm. I felt his veins pulsing under his skin. V didn't have much of a choice, I was cutting off his circulation so his hand went limp.

V smiled, "I knew you weren't just a necro. What're you hiding?"

My whole body felt hot from the anger of him laying a hand on Tess. I felt my grip on his arm tighten as hard as I could. Fangs replaced my teeth.

"Why don't we find out," I said after I pulled him closer to my face like he did to Tess.

V was intrigued. "Are those werewolf or vampire fangs?"

He lifted a hand, probably to grab my face. I'm not sure what happened next, it was honestly a blur. I think I spun him around pushed him to the ground. All I knew was I kneeling on top of him now and his arm laid beside him at an angle that would make your stomach upset. His other arm I had pinned behind his back.

"Hey whoa! What's going on here?" To my surprise, Elijah and Matt had appeared. They must not have been far.

I leaned down until I was inches from V's neck, "Why don't we figure it out next time? I'd love to know."

"Get off him," Matt grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me to my feet.

Two witches grabbed V and started healing his arm as they walked away with him. I had no idea that a small crowd had formed. I quickly forced my fangs away.

Matt thumped me on the forehead, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"He threatened Tess," I said.

"You don't break a man's arm for something he said Chloe," Matt was bewildered by my actions.

I looked over at Tess, she winked at me and mouthed 'thank you.' Elijah tried to look like he was making sure Tess' hand was ok but I could see him watching me out of the corner of his eye.

"You're going home," Matt said.

"Matt no," Tess said. "We're having so much fun. Chloe won't do it again, she promises. Right Chloe?"

I nodded, "Right."

Matt didn't like me staying here unpunished so he decided he and Elijah would stay with us the rest of the time we were here to keep an eye on me.

We went to a forest druid next. He demonstrated his ability to grow and manipulate nature. His specialty was trees. The druid could create a fully grown oak tree in less than thirty seconds. It was a pretty cool ability to have but I had a hard time focusing on the show. Why had I lost it like that? I needed to keep my tribrid nature quiet around here and I practically just showed everyone.

Was something up with Derek and I was finally reacting to it like Emma was to Jeremy? Or was this because of Tess?

"Earth to Chloe." Was that Derek's voice?

I blinked, how long had I been zoned out? We were sitting at a picnic table with everyone. I had a basket of fries in front of me. This must be dinner.

"Sorry," I said. "Been doing a lot of thinking."

"About what happened?" Derek asked.

Matt told them?! I shot a glare his way.

"I'm fine," I said stuffing some fries into my mouth. "He deserved it."

"He?" Derek asked. Simon was listening now too. "I didn't think a ride was a he."

Crap. Derek had been referring to me feeling sick of the rides.

"What're you talking about?" Simon asked.

Before I could figure out how to say it, Tori came straight out.

"She's talking about the fact she broke V's arm and wolfed out on him," she said. "I saw the whole thing."


	122. Home

**I definitely think there will be a vampire hunting break after they've resolved things with V. Thank you for the suggestions I have a lot of ideas now!**

**It may take Derek a while to come around but knowing Tess, she's going to push for it lol. I think putting her in a situation would definitely make him come to his senses completely.**

**I think we'll have to get creative with the timing for the baby or else it'll be forever.**

Matt spent a while on the phone after we got home. I avoided being alone with Simon and Derek and went upstairs to my room. I knocked on the door, Elijah opened it but didn't move aside.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to make sure Tess was ok," I said softly.

"She's fine," he said.

"EJ come on," Tess walked up beside him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I don't trust that you're in your right mind Chloe. I've only seen you do stuff like that when you were a soldier for Nate. I can't let you hurt Tess."

Tess sighed, "You're making a bigger deal out of it than it is."

"No I'm not," Elijah said. "Did you not see that man's arm? He would've lost it. Chloe cut off all circulation with one hand. And then she broke both bones with one hand. Who do you know with that kind of strength?"

I had to hold back the tears that were coming. He was right there was something wrong with me. Tess saw and pushed past Elijah to pull me into a hug. I kept my arms down by my side but buried my face into her shirt as I tried not to cry.

"Shhh honey," she whispered. "It's ok. You're ok."

"I didn't know what happened until after," I said into her shirt. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"The reason she has that strength is because she has the genes of two very strong species," Tess said to Elijah. "You can't hold that against her its not fair."

Elijah went to say something but she cut him off, "Can I hold it against you every time you break something because you were angry? No. That's not fair."

Elijah sighed, "Maybe we should go home. We know Chloe's not going vampire on us and that was the purpose of this visit. It's probably time to go home where you're safer."

Tess held onto me tighter, "No. Chloe needs me."

Matt came up the stairs sighing, "I convinced the council not to hold anything against you, Chloe. It helps that we're leaving soon. I swear to god though if you pull another stunt like that, I won't be able to talk them out of punishing you."

He realized after he finished that I was crying into Tess' shirt.

"Chloe?" All the authority in his voice was gone. Now it was soft and concerned.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Alright you two scatter," Tess said to them. "Chloe and I need a girl talk."

Elijah tried to argue about leaving us alone but whatever look Tess was giving him, it won. She guided me into the room and shut the door. I sat down on the bed with Tess. She dotted my face with her sleeve drying up the tears.

"Ignore the boys," she said. "They're just worried about you and they don't always know how to express it right. I appreciate what you did for me."

I leaned my head against her shoulder, "There's a lot stuff going on around here. I think I just snapped for a moment. I wasn't going to add more to our list."

"Want to talk about it?"

I took a deep breath and told Tess what was going on with me and Derek for a while and with the boys. How Emma and I were seeing a fight for dominance starting and how it was affecting her and potentially me now.

"That would make sense," Tess said after I finished. "If you two weren't sure about a mate connection then you probably wouldn't have the same connection as Emma and Jeremy. If you finally feel like you established it then things might change. You said you slept through him changing the other night, if he's still changing at night without waking you then your instincts are bound to react somehow. Werewolves don't like their mates going through it alone."

I loved talking things out with Tess, she always made me feel better.

"I'm serious," she said as I stood up. "Don't worry about Matt and Elijah. They're just boys being boys. If Matt was really mad at you he wouldn't have stopped the council from coming after you."

"Are you really going to leave?" I asked.

Tess stood up, her stomach growling, "No sweetie. I'm not going anywhere yet."

We walked out of the room and Tess went downstairs to get food. I stood there hesitating. I wasn't really ready to go talk to Derek after the look on his face when Tori ratted me out. The only words I can use to describe it are shock and horror. I looked over at Derek's bedroom door. I could steal the bed from Simon tonight and Matt would probably feel better keeping an eye on me anyway.

Lost in thought, I didn't stop to check if I could see if the light was on. I just pushed the door open to find Derek in his boxers with sweatpants in his hands.

"Oh god sorry!" I quickly shut the door.

Derek quickly put them on and opened the door.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"I uh was going to steal your bed. I didn't know you were up here." I couldn't make eye contact. My eyes were puffy from crying and now my cheeks were crimson. I looked like a mess.

"Why? Did I do something?"

I shook my head, "No. I saw the way you looked at me."

Derek stepped out and turned off the light, "Chloe I was just surprised that you would do something like that. I'm not mad at you, we all lose control sometimes. I should know." He took my hand. "Come on."

I followed him downstairs, as we reached the bottom of the stairs, Tess came walking up with an apple. Derek tensed and moved to the side.

"Alright mister," Tess squinted at him. "You don't get to keep dodging me."

"I'm not-"

"Yeah you are," Tess said. "And we're going to fix this right now."

Derek pulled on my hand, moving me in between them.

"Please don't."

Tess stepped closer, Derek stepped back. He was against the wall now with nowhere to go.

"Give me your hand," Tess set her apple down on the steps.

"I can't risk anything," Derek said.

"You're not, I am. I said give me your hand," Tess waited patiently.

Tess smiled at me and waved me to the side. I stepped aside. Derek didn't move.

"One last chance before I try to grab your hand and then we're actually risking something."

Derek gave her his right hand and grabbed my arm with his other hand. Tess took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He gripped my arm so tight I knew there would be bruises. His heart rate skyrocketed so fast I thought he was going to pass out.

"Open your eyes," Tess told him.

When he did he started hyperventilating and trying to pull his hand back but Tess held it still.

"Calm down, nothing bad is happening," Tess said softly.

Derek forced himself to take a few deep breaths, I think he knew he was going to pass out at this rate too. His heart was still beating fast but it slowed down some.

"See," she smiled. "You can touch me, you can interact with me. Nothing bad is going to come from it."

"Can I have my hand back please," Derek's grip on my arm tightened.

I wanted to speak up that it was really hurting me but I couldn't. Derek needed something to hold onto.

"Nope," she shook her head. "Not until you've relaxed. I've got all night."

"I can't. Something could happen. I can't be responsible for you losing it."

I caught flashes of images in Derek's mind. They were all Tess get hurt in some way and he either couldn't help her in time or he caused it. It was time for me to step in and try to calm him down.

"Derek," I set my free hand on top of his hand on me. "Look at me and breathe."

He did. Gradually his panicking mostly stopped as long as he was looking at me.

"I'm fine, you're not responsible for anything bad that happens," Tess said. He looked back at her. "I know this'll sound silly but humor me; say it."

"I'm not responsible for anything bad that happens," Derek said. His heart sped up a little again, he didn't really believe it.

"Good," Tess smiled and let go of his hand, wrapping him in a hug instead.

Derek froze. Tess chuckled and let go.

"Good night you two," she said as she grabbed her apple and headed up the stairs.

Derek immediately walked over to the couch and flopped onto it. I sat down beside him and pulled him and a pillow onto my lap. I ran my fingers through his hair.

"Why would she do that?" Derek asked.

"Because she sees what I see, you're not dangerous. She's trying to get you to see that."

I looked down at my arm, if he could forgive me for breaking a guy's arm then I could forgive him for some bruises.

"Something could've happened," he said.

"Like what?" I chuckled. "You both were standing still and no one else was around and your adrenaline was focused in on me."

Derek let out an involuntary soft growl as I played with his hair. I wanted to tease him by asking him if he just purred but I didn't. He was completely distracted now and within minutes he was asleep.

I flicked on the TV and turned the volume off, closed captions on. There was no way I was sleeping tonight, I had a gut feeling V was going to show up and I was not letting him get in without me knowing.


	123. Peace offering

**I apologize for dropping the ball with the Liz and Kyle storyline, they will be brought back into the picture soon!**

I found myself dozing off occasionally through the night because nothing happened. Which is a good thing.

**(Morning)**

Derek stretched as he woke up.

"Morning," he said softly when he noticed I was awake.

My eyelids felt heavy, I smiled at him as I held back a yawn.

"You sleep ok?" I asked.

He nodded as he adjusted the pillow.

"For the first time in a while."

I was glad he finally got a good night sleep, I'd been worried that his interaction with Tess last night would keep him up. That he would convince himself that he had hurt the baby at some point during it.

"Chloe?" Derek got my attention back. I missed whatever he was waiting for me to respond to.

"Sorry," I yawned unable to hold it back. "I didn't sleep last night I was worried about V showing up."

Derek pulled me onto the pillow, "Sleep, you're barely keeping your eyes open. I'll keep watch."

I didn't have time to wonder why he didn't ask why I thought V would show up. I was asleep as soon as he said it was okay.

**Tess' POV**

EJ sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "What do you say Matt? What trouble could these two get into in a few hours?"

Matt thought about it. All the kids wanted to go back to the carnival today but Matt wasn't a fan of Chloe going after yesterdays events. I refused to leave her here alone though. Plus I wanted to spend some time with her one on one.

EJ didn't like me staying alone with her for that long.

Matt shrugged, "She'll be mad but she'll understand I hope. I don't want her running into V again. And Tess is right its better if someone's here when she wakes up so she doesn't think we abandoned her."

"I'm staying too," EJ crossed his arms.

"Please give us some girl time," I asked, giving my best puppy dog eyes. No matter how worried EJ could get, he could never say no to them.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "You know I hate when you do that. Alright fine. But you keep your phone fully charged and in your pocket at all times. The slightest thing happens and you call me. Got it?"

I nodded.

**Time Skip to the afternoon.**

Derek didn't want to go when Matt told him Chloe was grounded and staying home but Simon forced him to go. I overheard him refer to an old conversation on unhealthy attachment causing a breakup. I really have missed a lot, I had no idea they weren't a couple anymore.

I was in the kitchen making myself a sandwich when I heard Chloe get up.

"In here," I called out.

Chloe rubbed her eyes as she walked in, "Where is everyone?"

"They went back to the carnival," I said. "Matt says your in time out for yesterday so you get to stay here with me. I bet they won't be gone long though, there's rain coming in soon."

Chloe didn't look as sad as I thought she would be. I think she knew she would get punished. I slid her my sandwich and started making a new one for me. As I looked down I realized I was wearing my faded pikachu pajama t-shirt still. I'd purposefully been wearing sweatshirts during the day to hide my new figure but with everyone gone, I'd forgotten.

"I think people forget my true strength sometimes," Chloe said softly as she took a bite. "I forget too. Do you think they're scared of me now?"

"Oh sweetie no," I shook my head. "Matt brought you on this journey because he knew you needed to learn more about being supernatural and losing control is part of it. We all understand, all of us do it from time to time. I bet you're not afraid of Matt after it happens to him."

**Chloe's POV**

I thought about what she said.

"I don't think I've ever seen him lose control," I said. "I've seen him lose his temper but never his control."

Tess smiled and picked up her plate, I picked up mine and followed her to the living room. The cushioned recliner probably felt better on her back than the wooden dining room chairs.

"Have you ever…" She paused thinking of how to phrase it. "Seen him look not human. Creepy eyes and like things were moving under his skin. Maybe some talon like fingers."

I nodded.

"Then you have seen him lose control."

I was confused, he was calm and collected when he did that at the human's farm.

Tess explained, "Matt's part demon but he looks like a human doesn't he? That's because he channels magic every moment of every day into his body to make it human. He knows his natural appearance scares most people so he hides it. But sometimes he loses control and some of his true form shows."

"Some?" I asked.

"Matt's never let a soul see him lose full control of his human appearance. Those little snake like movements under his skin is his demon trying to get out. Matt never lets that happen, he's afraid he'll lose who he is."

I had so many questions, what kind of demon was it? Why would he lose himself? Why didn't he trust anyone with his true appearance? But the biggest question on my mind was Lydia. Did she know? Was she channeling magic to appear human too or did she get lucky and get mostly her moms genetics?

I asked a different question instead, "Is maintaining magical control over your appearance really the same as losing control of my restraint and hurting people?"

Tess took a bite of the sandwich, "I know it may not sound like the same thing but they are both about restraint and learning. Matt had to learn to control and restrain his demonic half like you have to learn to control and restrain your strength and impulsivity."

I tried to take another bite of my sandwich and bit my finger instead. I hadn't realized I'd already finished it while I listened to her talk.

I changed the subject, "Tess can I ask you a rather personal question?"

She nodded.

"How do you handle changing now? Is it safe for you to do that or will it hurt the baby?"

Tess chuckled, "You're full of questions when there's no one else around. Ever notice that? Anyway, it's safe. If werewolves couldn't change without hurting their children then we wouldn't have survived as a species. The baby makes things a bit more uncomfortable but they're completely unharmed."

Her phone buzzed at the same time as someone knocked on the front door. Tess checked her phone as I stood to go to the door.

"Elijah says they will probably be back in half an hour or so, the rides have started shutting down because of the rain coming."

I opened the door and my heart stopped.

"Hello Necro," V smiled.

"Tess get back," I growled as I heard her get to her feet.

"Oh relax I'm here peacefully," V nodded down towards his feet where a small cooler sat. "I brought a peace offering."

He knelt down and opened the lid, inside where his rations of animal blood.

"I don't drink," I growled.

V looked genuinely surprised, "A part vampire that doesn't drink blood? Poor thing you'll die."

Tess came up and looked down at V, "You need to get the hell away from here."

V looked her over, "My you look quite different than you did at the fair. Grow that stomach overnight?"

I shifted so I was in between them. Tess set her hands on my shoulders, she didn't like that this put me closer to him.

"Leave us alone V," I growled. "I don't want your peace offering."

V took two bottles out as he stood and extended one to me.

"Please Necro? I'm trying to make amends, I like your spunk."

"Fine," I took the bottle from him. "Thank you, now go away."

Tess' grip tightened, she didn't like this. But I thought he actually seemed like he genuinely wanted to make up.

V sighed, "If you're still mad then it's not really fixed." He opened his bottle and took a drink. "Here, trade me. Now you see that I didn't do anything to the blood."

I traded him but still didn't drink it. V looked disappointed.

I realized I could use this to get him away from Tess.

"You really want to patch things up?" I asked. "Then let's take this party to your place and leave my friend here alone."

"Chloe!" Tess yanked me back from the door.

"Tess let me keep you safe. The guys know exactly where V lives."

"No! You're not leaving with this man!"

"Hey hey," I hugged her. "I'll see you in half an hour."

I hoped she got the hints I was trying to drop. The guys would be home in half an hour, probably sooner if she called, and they would know exactly where to come find me.

"Do not do this," Tess growled at me.

A hand grabbed my arm right where Derek had bruised it and then everything got blurry as my feet left the ground and the air rushed by my face.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed when I realized I was looking at V's building.

V shrugged, "I didn't feel like watching bickering so I grabbed you and bolted vampire style. We can get pretty fast when we want to. Ever seen a vampire movie?" V let go of my arm and saw the bruises, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."

I interrupted his rush of apologies, "You didn't do that. Come on, a deals a deal let's go inside."


	124. chaos

**Derek's POV**

Elijah, Matt, and I were rounding everyone up to head back to the house when Elijah's phone started buzzing.

"Hey," he said. "Everything alright?"

I couldn't make out what she was saying because of the noise all around us but Tess was definitely screaming.

"We'll be right there!" Elijah hung up and grabbed my arm. "We have to go now. Matt, find everyone else and meet us at the house."

Matt didn't question, he nodded and left. Elijah broke into a run towards the parking lot still holding onto my arm.

"What's going on?" I asked as we got into the car.

"V," Elijah growled and pulled the car out of the parking space. "He showed up and took Chloe."

I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. But I knew we needed to think rationally. Chloe would tell me to breathe. I needed to focus on my breathing.

"Does Tess know where he took her?" I asked.

"He said they were going to his home," Elijah was flooring it down the road.

"I know where that is but V already knows me. You might be able to get closer than me."

I directed him towards V's apartment complex. He stopped me as I tried to get out of the car.

"Wait no. You need to go check on Tess, they could be hurt."

I wanted to argue, I wanted to go save Chloe. But I saw the look of pain in his eyes and knew exactly what he was feeling, he needed to know she was ok.

"Ok," I said. "Call if you need help. There's three of them in that apartment."

Elijah nodded and got out, I slid over to the drivers seat and floored it to the house. The only thing holding me together was that I knew I could trust Elijah.

As soon as I was out the car door I could smell the blood. I raced towards the open front door, it was all over the floor. I smelled the air again and relaxed a little. It was animal not human.

"Tess?" I stepped over the blood.

I don't know where she came from but Tess appeared and threw her arms around me.

"She's gone," Tess sobbed. "He disappeared with her. I couldn't do anything to stop him. I should've tried. I should've slammed the door in his face."

I tried to pull her off me but Tess clung tight.

"Tess I need to make sure you're not hurt," I said.

"He never touched me," she said. She hiccupped and started sobbing into my shirt. "She's gone. Its my fault."

"Hey," I said softly, arms around her I could feel her body getting tense. "She'll be alright, she always is. You need to calm down Tess."

Tess' nail nicked me as she grabbed fistfuls of my shirt.

"Please try to relax. You don't want to change right now."

"Relax?" Tess looked up at me with a touch of anger. "How can I relax right now with her kidnapped because of me?"

I gently wiped the tears off her cheeks, "Elijah's got her. She'll be home any minute."

"But what if he didn't go to the apartment," Tess panicked.

"V's a man of his word. If he says something, he means it," I said.

Tess' skin was starting to feel hotter.

"Tess please you need to calm down or you're going to change with a baby. Let's sit down."

She nodded at walked over to the couch with me. As she sat down, she covered her mouth, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

I rushed over to the kitchen and grabbed the trash can and a water. I got the trash can in front of her right as she started puking. I sat beside her rubbing her back until she was done.

"Here," I handed her the water. She rinsed and spit a few times before taking a sip.

"Can you call Elijah please?" Tess was looking pretty pale.

I pulled out my phone and hit dial and speaker.

"Now's really not a good time," Elijah said as he answered. Was that music in the background?

"EJ," Tess said. She grabbed the edge of the garbage can like she was going to throw up again. "I can't stop it."

"Are you sure honey?"

I went to wipe tears from her cheek when I realized it was sweat. Tess threw up instead of answering. There was a bunch of rustling coming from Elijah's end.

"We are leaving now," Elijah growled and hung up.

I tossed the phone aside, "Tess what're you talking about?"

Tess' legs bounced as her muscles spasmed.

"I promised Elijah I'd never change into a wolf. I don't want any risk of hurting the baby," she said. She sounded on the verge of hyperventilating.

I moved the trash can away and got down in front of her, taking her hands.

"You can keep your promise," I said. "Just focus on breathing. Follow me."

I squeezed her hands and took long slow breaths. Tess followed my lead.

"Keep focusing and you'll be fine," I smiled.

I swore the next ten seconds played out in slow motion. A car door slammed making both of us jump to our feet. Tess stepped to go towards the door but her foot caught on mine. I jumped to catch her as she tripped towards the corner of the table. I got my hand over the side of her head right before she hit it the corner. There was a loud crack and flare of pain as I took the impact instead of her.

I held back a string of curses, I think some bones in my hand snapped, and helped Tess stand up.

"You're bleeding," Tess grabbed my hand.

I hissed and pulled it back, "I'm fine. I'm more worried about you."

"I'm fine," Tess said.

The front door burst open and Elijah rushed in.

"Tess," He ran over to her and wrapped her in a hug. "Are you ok?"

Tess hugged him back nodding, "Derek saved me."

I didn't really care if it was rude, I brushed past them to the door. If Elijah was back then Chloe was somewhere.

**Elijah's POV**

I ran into the building and up to the room Derek told me the vampire lived in. I was about to bust the door open when I realized music was coming from the room. I thought maybe he gave me the wrong room number so I stopped to smell. Chloe, Matt, Simon, everyone's scents were right by this door, this had to be the place.

I took a deep breath and opened the door not having a clue what I was about to walk into. V and Chloe were sitting at a small card table with empty bottles in front of them and two girls were dancing to music on the far side of the room.

"Chloe," I walked in, feeling relieved that she seemed ok.

Chloe looked at me and it seemed to take her a moment to realize who I was.

"Elijah!" She smiled once she recognized me. "Join us."

I walked up to the table and looked at V, "What the hell is going on here?"

V threw an arm around Chloe's shoulders making me tense, "We sir, are becoming best friends."

Chloe smiled.

"Are you two drunk?"

"How dare you," V smiled at me. "I've reintroduced Necro to blood." V turned to Chloe and spoke in a loud whisper. "That's the second person to call you Chloe."

"I know," she whispered back.

V slid Chloe the last full bottle of blood on the table. Before she could grab it, I wacked it off the table. Something about the blood didn't smell right.

"That was rude," V said.

"You've done something to her," I growled. "She's acting like she's drugged."

One of the girls came over and pulled Chloe from her chair, bringing her over to the speaker.

"We are leaving," I growled.

The smile fell from his face, "I don't believe that's your call to make. She's having a good time."

I got in V's face, "What've you done to her?"

"I've done nothing," V leaned back casually in his chair. "She did everything voluntarily. Necro came here voluntarily too so you're kind of trespassing."

But Tess didn't say she came here on her own, she said V took her.

"Excuse me?"

My phone started buzzing, seeing it was Derek I answered.

"Now's really not a good time," I said, watching V as I spoke.

"EJ," Tess didn't sound so good. "I can't stop it."

I knew exactly what she meant.

"Are you sure honey?" I managed to say it calmly even though I was starting to panic, I couldn't let Tess go through that alone.

She didn't answer which wasn't a good sign. I grabbed Chloe away from the speaker.

"We are leaving now," I growled at V.

I didn't wait for a response, I pushed Chloe out the door.


	125. Wolfsbane

**Derek's POV**

Chloe was sitting on the front step, I walked around and knelt down in front of her.

"Chloe," I said relieved, taking her hand. She looked awful. Her skin was pale and her chin was covered in animal blood.

"I had to do it," she said.

"Do what?" I asked.

She took a shaky breath, "He would've hurt Tess. It was the only way to keep her safe."

"What was the only way?" I didn't want to push her too hard but she wasn't giving me all the details.

"He said he'd leave her alone if I came with him," she touched the dried blood on her chin. "Then he told me to drink… he said the more I drank the longer he'd leave us alone…"

"You seem ok though," I said wiping a tear off her cheek.

Chloe shook her head and wrapped her hands around her legs.

"Elijah made me throw it up. It didn't taste right. V said it had some extra fun in it. But I couldn't stop or he'd go after Tess!"

I didn't like the sound of 'extra fun' at all but I couldn't be mad. I would've done the same thing in her position.

"Come on," I got her to stand up. My broken hand flared. "Let's get you cleaned up before everyone else gets home. Sound good?"

Chloe nodded.

**Chloe's POV**

I sat quietly while Derek cleaned the blood off me. All I could think about was Tess. I had to do it to keep her safe. The more of the blood I drank the safer she was. It made me feel fuzzy, I don't really remember much between the first drink and Elijah making me throw it up.

Arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tightly.

"You're ok," Tess was the one hugging me.

Seeing that she was here and ok helped bring me out of my hazy thoughts. I gave her a smile even though I didn't feel ok. My stomach was in knots.

"I smell blood," I said to her, thinking it was coming from her.

"Of course you do, it's all over you," Elijah was sitting beside me. When did he get there?

Tess shook her head and received a glare from Derek.

"It's you," I said to Derek. He shook his head. "Let me see."

Derek gently set his on my leg. There was a big gash along the back of it that was already turning black and blue.

"How'd this happen?" Elijah asked.

Tess answered for him, "I told you Derek saved me from hitting my head."

I couldn't keep looking at it after I noticed a bit of bone.

"Derek move your fingers," Elijah said.

"No," Derek shook his head. Before Elijah could ask why not, Derek continued. "I can't."

I felt his thumb move and Derek quickly grabbed my hand with his good hand. He squeezed hard trying not to show pain.

"Definitely broken, Tori can fix that as soon as she's back," Elijah said.

The front door opened.

"Speak of the devil," Elijah smiled. His voice sounded distant, I was falling back into the haze. Throwing up hadn't got rid of everything in my system.

**Derek's POV**

As soon as Simon came into the kitchen and saw my hand, he demanded Tori healed it. Simon knew me too well, I wasn't going to ask her to. I think I saw the broken bones as a sign of punishment for not stopping Tess before she tripped. I needed to be better.

I eavesdropped on Matt and Elijah by the front door as she healed it.

"Don't you smell it?" Elijah asked.

"No," Matt said.

"There's wolfsbane in the blood V made Chloe drink. Lots of vampires ingest it as a precaution, it's deadly to werewolves."

"But you made her throw it up, she'll be fine," Matt argued. He refused to believe he would lose Chloe.

"Yeah so she lost the contents in her stomach. If some of that already reached her bloodstream, which by the looks of her not being able to concentrate it did, then she might be screwed."

Alright they weren't having this conversation without me anymore. I looked down, saw my hand was done, then pushed past Tori to the living room.

"Something you want to share with everyone?" I asked.

"Shh," Matt said quietly. "We don't want to freak everyone out."

I walked up to them, "You were just not going to tell anyone that their best friend is dying."

Elijah shook his head, "That's not what I said. Here, watch."

He bent down and touched the bloody carpeting with his finger and it burned him. Matt bent down and did the same and nothing happened.

"Wolfsbane is only deadly to werewolves," Elijah explained. "She's not just werewolf so she's not going to die. But with how much she ingested, there's a chance her werewolf side will die."

Was he being serious? That wasn't a real thing, you can't just have parts of you dying. Could you?

"So what do we do?" I asked.

Matt shrugged, "I don't think there is anything we can do. We just wait and see."

I hated the sound of waiting to see if Chloe survived.

**Chloe's POV**

That night was just awful. Whatever drugs V gave me were wearing off and I didn't feel tired at all. I laid next to Derek while I watched TV. I looked over at him every once in a while and he smiled at me. Derek wasn't sleeping tonight either. I don't think he realized (or maybe it didn't mean the same to him) his hand was resting on my stomach but it made me think of him and Tess today. Did he finally realize he wasn't going to hurt her on accident? Was he going to stop acting like she was super fragile?

I rolled over to ask him how it went with Tess but he'd dozed off.

I moved closer to give him a kiss but he grabbed my shoulder and said, "Don't."

"Why not?"

Derek opened his eyes, "Because I'm not taking the choice away from you again."

I frowned, "What does that mean?"

Derek sighed, this was what was keeping him awake.

"Elijah says the 'fun' that V put in the blood was wolfsbane."

"Ok?" I'd never heard of that before.

"Wolfsbane kills werewolves," Derek wouldn't look right at me. "So you might not be werewolf anymore and if you're not… I just can't kiss you and take that choice away from you…"

"Ask me again," I said. Derek immediately looked confused. "Ask me to be your girlfriend."

"Chloe," he sighed. "If you're human-"

I cut him off by kissing him. I swear I heard Derek's heart stop beating.

"Now will you ask me?" I smiled.


	126. Planning

"Chloe, you had a chance to be normal," Derek said.

"Werewolf is my normal now. I don't know what I'd be without it," I said.

"You shouldn't choose this life though," he said.

I sat up. "Isn't a small part of you happy I did it? You don't have to be afraid to touch me like you were last time I was human. Don't you remember how miserable you were?"

Derek didn't know what to say back so I had a feeling I was right. He wasn't happy that I chose the werewolf life because of the dangers and whatnot. But he was happy that it meant I would still be here beside him.

"Are you going to ask me or not?" I asked, diverting back to my earlier question.

Derek smiled and shook his head, "I don't know if I'll ever understand how your mind works. Will you-"

"Yes," I cut him off smiling.

Derek reached for my hand.

"I can't believe you keep choosing this life," he said. He paused then added, "You're starting to convince me that mates are real. I mean why else would you keep choosing me?"

"Glad you're seeing things my way," I teased.

I laid back down on my pillow, my stomach felt a little funny. It must've shown on my face.

"You alright?"

I nodded.

"Maybe the wolfsbane isn't out of your system yet."

"Or maybe you're overthinking things like usual," I suggested. I figured it was because I didn't eat dinner. I didn't want to consider that the toxin was still in my system and the kiss hadn't done anything.

I wanted the focus off me so I changed the subject to him and Tess.

"You haven't said much about what happened with Tess today. Are you feeling better about the situation now?"

He shrugged, "I showed up and she was panicking about you so much that she showed signs of changing. But Tess made a promise to Elijah I guess that she'd never change with the baby. It would've been fine but that doesn't mean its not scary. Especially with how our lives go, we always get the bad luck. So I did what you'd do, I got her to calm down, got her to relax before it was too late. But then you guys got back and Tess tripped over my foot and her head almost hit the corner of the table. I got my hand in the way in time though and took the blow for her. I couldn't let her get hurt…"

The way he trailed off made me think there was more.

"You still blame yourself though, don't you? That she panicked about me and that she tripped."

Derek nodded. He had the what ifs running through his head. What if he insisted on staying home instead of going with Simon? What if he'd just moved his foot in time? What if he hadn't caught her in time?

We talked for a while longer before Derek started yawning. I think telling me about the wolfsbane helped him relax, he wasn't carrying around a secret anymore. He fell asleep soon after but I couldn't. too many thoughts were going through my head.

"Chloe?" A female voice said.

I must've fallen asleep at some point. I opened my eyes and saw Liz.

"Hey," she smiled.

I sat up as carefully trying not to wake Derek.

"Did it work?" I whispered.

Liz half nodded, "Yeah, I mean I got into the general area and had to find my way to the motel. But at least I didn't end up in some weird dimension."

I looked around until I realized Kyle was standing behind her. I smiled.

**Time Skip**

When morning came I told everyone that Liz and Kyle were back. Before I could even bring up the idea of the spell, Tori was scrambling upstairs to get the spell book. She was eager to have her friend back.

I told them I didn't want to be Liz's connection this time with all my problems going on so Emma volunteered. As she, Simon, and Tori went upstairs to do the spell with Liz and Kyle, I pulled Jeremy aside.

"Hey," I said. "Listen, I wanted to tell you something."

Jeremy nodded.

"I don't know if Emma told you, but we're thinking about trying to find her pack when we leave here."

Jeremy nodded, "She mentioned it but she hasn't said much, I think she's trying not to get her hopes up."

"Well tell her she can get her hopes up," I smiled. "Derek says he thinks we can do it. But the problem is we can't all go or the pack might see it as a threat or invasion or something. So probably only the werewolves can go."

Jeremy frowned, "I guess that makes sense. But how do the others feel about it? I'm sure Simon won't want to leave his brother."

I shrugged, "I haven't talked about it with anyone else. I wanted to make sure you knew about it first."

Jeremy tried to hide a smile, I think he liked that I considered him first.

"Would Tess and Elijah be coming?" He asked. "They're werewolf."

"Um, I have no idea."

Someone's hand grabbed my shoulder, "We better be coming along. You kids shouldn't go off unsupervised."

I turned to see Elijah smiling, he was teasing.

"How hard will it be to find them?" Jeremy asked Elijah.

"Not hard at all actually, as long as she remembers at least what state they're in. Packs don't move around much, they'll probably still be where they used to be."

Well that was good news, it might be even easier than I thought.

Footsteps came down the stairs, they finished doing the spell. Liz was going from person to person hugging everyone. Kyle came straight to me and hugged me.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for knowing where to find me. Thank you for sending Liz to save me."

"Anytime," I smiled.

After everyone said hello and settled down, Elijah rounded everyone up. We went to the back deck where they would be more room.

"Alright," he said. Everyone quieted down. "You all know that we've got to be out of here in a few days, which is fine. Now you've got to decide what's next."

"Are you guys interested in going back to hunting?" Matt asked. There was lots of nods.

Elijah nodded at me to speak up.

"Well," I said. "Emma and I were talking about finding her family. She's been free from the vampires for a while now, it's about time she goes home."

I expected arguing from Matt but he nodded.

"I think that's a good idea. Do you know where they are at Emma?"

She shook her head, "Not really."

"Do you at least know the state?" Elijah asked. "There's rarely more than two maybe three packs in a state."

"Montana," she said.

There was a look on Elijah's face that I couldn't quite figure out.

"Hold on," I interrupted. "We can't all just show up to a pack's territory."

"You're right," Matt nodded and sighed. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. We'll split into going hunting and going to Montana. When you guys are done, you'll join us in hunting. Tess, would you be alright with going with Chloe and Emma? I don't mean to be rude but being around werewolves is probably safer than being around vampires. That is, if you're sticking around."

"Of course we're sticking around," she smiled.

I'd expected Simon to argue with all this by now, when I looked around I realized he and Derek were gone, off arguing somewhere else.

**Yeah, I know. Bit of a rushed chapter but I just want to push the story along to the next thing.**

**I have a question for you guys. After the story arch of Emma's werewolf pack, do you want them going back to vampire hunting? Maybe a reappearance from our old friend Nate? I could jump to the future when they're all a bit older? It wouldn't be exactly like the Family story since Tess has a kid now.**


	127. Larry!

**Sorry that my posting has been a bit chaoticly spaced out lately, I've been working on a book that Amazon will hopefully let me self-publish. Fingers crossed.**

**Simon's POV**

"I can't believe this," I said. "You were going to take Chloe and go without me."

Derek nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"How do you think a pack is going to react to other supernaturals showing up?" He said. "In case you forgot, they don't act like I do."

I rolled my eyes, "That's a crap excuse. We do stuff all the time that other supernaturals don't do. What's the real reason?"

"You," Derek said bluntly. "You're the reason I excluded you. Simon you excel at this hunting stuff, you should keep doing it."

That stopped me for a moment, I enjoyed doing this but I never pictured being on my own. Derek and I had always been side by side.

"It's about time we start our lives," he said. "I think hunting is your calling."

I liked the idea of it but I still had to argue a little.

"It sounds like you're deciding for me," I said.

"I'm not deciding your future," he knew that I would say it. "The only thing I'm deciding for you is that you can't come to this pack territory with us."

I shrugged, "It's probably better than being the odd one out among werewolves."

**Chloe's POV**

Elijah broke off from the group to make some breakfast for Tess. I followed him inside.

"Everything alright?" He asked.

"Has um has your magic alarm done anything?" I asked.

He looked up from the fridge, "Why?"

"My stomachs been feeling funny ever since the blood," I admitted. "I'm worried I triggered something."

Elijah grabbed bacon from the fridge and searched for a pan. He didn't know I knew about the wolfsbane and was buying time trying to figure out how to tell me.

"I know about the wolfsbane," I said, walking up to the stove with him.

Elijah sighed, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I didn't know how to."

"Don't worry about it," I said. "I'll be alright. You think that's all my stomachache is?"

Elijah turned and laid the bacon out on the pan.

"You're taking this too well. You've done something haven't you?"

I didn't answer right away.

"You tried to re-infect yourself already," he said, eyes narrowing.

I nodded.

"Chloe do you know how dangerous that could be? If there was still wolfsbane in your system then you could really hurt yourself. If you give someone a disease and a cure at the same time, their body descends into chaos." He extended a hand. "Give me your wrist."

I did. Elijah nicked it with his fingernail and tasted the drop of blood. I waited for him to say something as he flipped the bacon around. He looked angry.

"There's no werewolf," he said finally. "You still had the toxin in you when you tried to pull your stunt. Your stomach hurts because your body doesn't know what the hell is happening to you. You killed off your chance of being werewolf Chloe."

"But there wasn't any left in my system," I argued. I couldn't be human still.

"Just cause you don't feel it anymore doesn't mean its gone," Elijah growled. He moved the bacon over to a plate. He was quiet for a moment before growling, "What the hell Chloe, you couldn't go one night without putting your life in danger?"

"Hey," Matt came in. "Everything ok in here?"

"Nope, she screwed up," Elijah took the plate and walked away.

Matt looked at me questioningly.

"I think I really messed up this time," I didn't look at Matt. "I'm not werewolf anymore even though I tried to fix it. I guess I made things worse trying to fix it."

Matt came over to me, "Worse how?"

I shrugged, looking down. "I don't know but he's mad at me trying to fix it. Maybe I only had one shot?"

"No no," he said gently. "You're taking him too serious Chloe. Elijah's just on edge from yesterday still. He thought he was going to lose all three of you so he doesn't want you taking risks."

I saw a flicker of red in his eyes. Matt didn't like talking about the possibility of losing me.

"Are you sure that's it?" I asked. "He gave Emma look earlier too. I don't think its yesterday."

Matt snapped his fingers and smiled, "You little genius. That's all it is, Emma's trip. Tess volunteered them to come along and Elijah's from Montana. You might be going to the pack that he left."

I blinked surprised, I can see why he'd be on edge then. I wondered why he didn't just say he didn't want to go back.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting," Emma came in. "Can I steal Chloe? I don't want to go to the woods alone."

Matt hesitated before answering. "Alright fine, only if it's just animal. I don't want to find bite marks on you two."

We promised then slipped out of the house.

Emma sighed as we walked, "What am I going to do when we get to the pack? I can't tell them I'm vampire."

"Emma, you should be able to be yourself around your family. Are you sure you want to go back if you have to hide part of yourself?"

Emma nodded, "Whether they accept me or not, they need to know I'm still alive."

We stepped into the woods a ways before Emma stopped and closed her eyes. She listened for animals. Not having werewolf hearing sucked but at least I wasn't totally helpless. Vampire hearing was still pretty good, I heard the deer as she did.

Emma got to the deer before it heard her coming. She was great at this. I stood nearby as she did what she needed to do but I couldn't watch. I was afraid if I saw the blood, I'd want it too.

When she was done, she let got of the deer and it ran. Emma turned to me wiping her chin.

"That sucked," she chuckled. "I don't like the taste of deer."

I looked over at her finally, "Why'd you ask me to come? Seems like you've got it down."

She shrugged, "Sounded like you needed a break from the drama."

I did need the break from everything crashing down around me and I continued to get it thankfully. On our way back, Larry messaged me.

"Do you want to come with?" I asked Emma. "He's super nice."

"Are you sure?" She hesitated. "You know how I get around new people."

I smiled, "Well you're about to go see a whole pack of kinda new people so you'll have to get used to it sooner or later."

She playfully elbowed me, "Alright."

We showed up at the address Larry gave. It was a cute little tavern run by goblins. I looked around as Emma and I sat at a table waiting for Larry to arrive. Most of the place was full of small four person tables, a bar lined the back wall. Goblins went from table to table refilling drinks and taking dishes, the place was fairly busy with the lunch rush.

There were lights hanging over each table because there was no windows. I wondered if goblins didn't like the light or if that was just the design of the building. The walls were lined with pictures of goblins and food advertisements. I chuckled to myself thinking the only difference between here and a human tavern was we were missing a pool table.

The door opened and Larry came in, I waved so he could see where we were sitting. He came over with a smile.

"How's my favorite mystery," Larry sat down.

"Mystery?" Emma asked.

"This girl has something new going on every time I see her," Larry chuckled. "Nice to meet you."

"This is Emma," I said. "I hope its alright I invited her."

Larry nodded, "Oh god of course."

A goblin came over and took our orders. I didn't even look at the menu yet so I just said I'd have the soup of the day. They scribbled it down and turned to go as another goblin walked up with two glasses in their hands. The second goblin whispered something to the first, set the glasses on our table and walked away quickly.

"I'll put your orders in right away," the goblin said. "A gentleman at the bar sent these over for the two lovely women."

The goblin turned and walked away.


	128. Alpha

**I do plan on bringing in some more necromancy stuff as soon as they're on the road. I've been neglecting it too much.**

The three of us looked at each other confused.

"Sounds like you two have a secret admirer," Larry grabbed one of the glasses and smelled the drink. He wrinkled his nose, "Not my type of beverage."

Emma and I had been looking for anyone looking our way. I turned back to Larry.

"What is it?" I asked.

He passed me the glass, I half expected to smell alcohol but I was way off. It was blood mixed with ice cubes, pieces of fruit, and possibly some juice.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Emma growled.

I looked in the direction she was facing and saw him too. V sat at the bar, his back to us. How on earth did we end up at the same place as him?! He must've been able to hear us because he turned around and raised a glass of the same contents with a smile.

"Do you know him?" Larry asked.

"Unfortunately," I sighed. "He's the vampire problem."

V got up from his seat at the bar and made his way over.

"He sent you a drink though," Larry said. "Doesn't seem like what a problem person does."

"How much time do you have?" Emma said. "I'll tell you all the problems."

"Hey Necro," V took the open seat. "How's the hangover?"

Larry looked confused.

"I'm fine," I said. "Go away."

V pushed one glass in front of me and the other in front of Emma.

"This drink is the best hangover cure in town," he smiled.

Emma picked it up and smelled it.

"I'm sorry, what's going on here?" Larry blurt out.

V extended a hand his way, "How rude of me. I'm V, I got Chloe drunk off what I call Fun Blood."

Larry shook his hand, "Larry."

Emma gave me a confused look, she didn't know about the wolfsbane.

"Don't drink it if it's sour," I told her.

The goblin reappeared with our food and set it on the table.

"So you're the one who's been stirring up trouble around town," Larry said to V as he started eating.

"Guilty as charged," V sipped his drink.

Emma and I listened to the two of them talk for a few minutes while we ate. I think we both figured the less we said the quicker this would go.

"Chloe," Emma hissed.

The other two didn't notice our conversation. They were discussing the layout of the town.

I lowered the glass from my mouth and said, "What?"

She gestured at the glass in my hand and I realized what I'd done. I was eating so automatically that I'd grabbed the 'hangover cure' glass and drank about half of it already.

I tried not to panic, "Alright you tell the moment I start acting weird."

Emma nodded.

"And we keep this between us," I added. She nodded again.

I pulled out my phone as if I'd gotten a text.

"Sorry to interrupt," I said to Larry and V. "But we've got to head out. We've got some work to finish up."

We paid our bills and said our goodbyes but V still managed to catch my arm right as we walked out the door.

"Don't touch her," Emma growled.

"Relax, I just want to talk to her," he let go. "Privately."

I nodded that it was ok, cooperating was the way to get this over with quicker. V led me down the sidewalk so we were still visible to Emma but likely out of earshot.

"Is this the game you play?" I asked. "Drug me, play nice, drug me, play nice."

"Technically I didn't mean to drug you," V corrected me. "I am so used to the taste of wolfsbane that it doesn't occur to me that others might not be able to consume it."

"So you killed my werewolf side by accident?" I gawked.

V nodded. I couldn't believe this, I turned to walk away but V reached out for me. Emma saw and growled, he pulled his hand back.

"Necro wait," he said. "I have something to confess."

"Something else to confess," I corrected him.

"Look, I like your spirit, I've told you that. I know you've got your friends and your job and all that. But just consider my offer for a second, ok? I want you to come with me. The girls can teach you what it really means to be vampire. How exciting it is. You'd fit right in with us."

I stared at him blankly, not knowing what to say. I mean I knew I wanted to say no but how do you tell a dangerous man no to his face?

"C-can I get back to you on your offer?" I stuttered.

V smiled, that was better than a no to him.

"Of course, you know just where to find me."

I walked quickly to Emma and didn't slow down as I walked by.

"What did he say?" She asked trying to keep up with me. "Or is this the drink?"

I shook my head, "No this is me freaking out over what he said. I'm ok though. I'm ok."

On the walk home, I didn't tell her what he actually said. I told her that he said he was leaving town in a month or so, he didn't like the lifestyle here. It was the only thing I could think of.

As we approached the house, Kyle came outside.

"Hey um," he said. "Mind waiting out here for a minute?"

He was trying to block the door without being too obvious.

"Why?" Emma asked.

There was the sound of something breaking inside as an answer.

"That's why," Kyle said. "I just don't want you guys getting hurt."

"Kyle what was that?" I stepped closer to the door and him.

He shrugged, "Probably some plates or a lamp. Derek and Jeremy got into it."

Emma and I exchanged worried looks and pushed past Kyle. Right as we stepped in the door, Jeremy slid into our legs like we were bowling pins. He stood back up and growled at Derek who was on the other side of the couch. The house was a mess and both of them were bloody.

Derek started coming our way, I quickly got in between the boys as Emma held onto Jeremy. Derek tried to push me out of the way but I held my ground. His eyes were full of anger.

"Move," he growled.

"No," I said.

Jeremy got out of Emma's grip and shoved me out of the way. He landed a punch to Derek's jaw before Derek grabbed his arm and tossed him across the room again. I heard the all too familiar sound of a bone breaking.

**Earlier Derek's POV**

Jeremy had been bugging me all day with little comments he tried to get in as much as possible. He corrected every single thing I did and it was really starting to get under my skin. I was in Tess' room grabbing Chloe's things when Jeremy decided to push my buttons again.

"What're you doing?" He asked.

"Being a good boyfriend and packing Chloe's things for her," I said.

Jeremy leaned against the door and rolled his eyes, "So you're being her slave. That's pathetic, you should really learn how to put her in her place. She can't keep thinking she's some all powerful b-"

Before he could finish the word I threw the nearest object at him which happened to be Chloe's perfume. It hit him square in the stomach.

I stood up, growling, "Never call her that."

Jeremy smiled, he finally got the reaction he was digging for.

"Are you going to stop me?"

I didn't move.

"You know, maybe I should take Chloe instead," he chuckled. "Seems to be an easy thing to do. Simon's taken her from you how many times now?"

"Shut up," I clenched my fists. I knew he was saying it to try to make me mad but it still worked.

"I'll teach her what a real alpha's like," Jeremy said. "I think I'll take her somewhere private and sweet talk her. Right as she's about to leave I'll steal a kiss." He paused and pretended to gasp. "Ops. I forgot that already happened and we told you I used her toothbrush to get infected instead of the truth."

I lost control thinking about him kissing Chloe. I'm not quite sure what happened, it was kind of a blur. I lunged at him growling. We fell to the floor and fists were flying. I heard footsteps come up the stairs.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Matt said.

We ignored him, Jeremy's teeth turned to fangs and sank into my right arm.

"You're going to want to let them work this out," Elijah pulled him back downstairs. He knew what kind of fight this was. "Just stay out of the way."

I ripped my arm from his mouth and jumped to my feet. Before Jeremy could get to his feet, I grabbed his arm and tossed him down the hall. It was a stupid move but he was so much smaller than me, it was just too easy. I meant for him to just hit the wall but he tumbled down the stairs too. I walked to the top of the stairs to look down and slipped in a bit of blood, falling down the stairs after him.

Jeremy got on top of me and landed some hits before I pushed him off me. I stood and immediately got the wind knocked out of me by a lamp to my back, bringing me to my knees. Jeremy made some comment about kneeling to the alpha so I grabbed the lamp and smashed it against his knees.

He cried out in pain, I took advantage of the moment and turned wolf in seconds. Jeremy's eyes widened seeing me standing before him as a wolf when twenty seconds ago I was on the floor next to him.

I was sure I'd broken his knees by accident but Jeremy still scrambled to his feet. I lunged at him, knocking him down and scraped my claws all the way down his back. Jeremy screamed again and flipped onto his back, knocking me off him. I made myself turn back to human but Jeremy landed a kick to my stomach before I finished.

We went on for another five or ten minutes beating the hell out of each other before I saw Kyle sneak by out of the corner of my eye. Jeremy reached for the broken remains of the table leg, I knew he could use that to stab me if he wanted so I grabbed him and threw him before he could think of it too. He skidded across the floor as Chloe and Emma walked in, knocking them down.

**Back to Chloe/Present**

I saw the look on Derek's face when he heard the bone break. He didn't mean for it to get that far.

"Are you two done destroying the house now?" Simon growled from the stairs. He saw me and Emma and smiled. "Welcome to the crazy house. Sorry we don't have any seating available at the moment."

Jeremy got back to his feet, I couldn't see any obviously broken bones. It must've been a rib. Derek growled at him, I grabbed his arm before he could make another move.

"ENOUGH," I screamed. Both of them stopped and stared at me. "Jeremy out back. Derek out front. NOW."

Emma and Kyle walked out the back door with Jeremy, I followed Derek out front with Simon.


	129. aftermath

I knelt down in front of him, looking over his injuries.

"What're you staring at?" I asked arms crossed. The two of them were sitting on the step staring at me.

"Chloe, your eyes," Simon said.

He handed me his phone and I looked in the reflection. My eyes were blood red. I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath, and when I looked again, they were normal.

"What were you two doing?" I moved the attention to Derek instead of me.

Derek wiped blood from under his nose, "I told you he'd challenge me."

"Are you ok?" I asked. Knowing I was human now, I was hesitant to touch him to find the injuries.

He winced as he shrugged, "I'll be fine."

"Your arms bleeding pretty bad," Simon pointed out.

"Yeah Jeremy bit me."

Simon took his hand and started healing the bite. Derek didn't argue, he just watched me. He knew something wasn't right, I'd always thrown caution to the wind and made sure he was alright.

Derek pulled his hand away before Simon could heal anything more. He was alright with having all the cuts and bruises.

"Could you make sure Jeremy's ok?" Derek asked Simon. "I'm sure Tori doesn't care enough to help him."

Simon nodded and left. Derek gestured that I could sit next to him but I stayed kneeling in front of him.

"You're avoiding touching me," he said. "It didn't work last night, did it? You're still human."

I nodded slowly. Wanting to say 'vampire actually' but I hesitated. Derek looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't.

"What?"

"Why aren't you trying to fix it like you did last night? What's stopping you from kissing me again?"

I honestly didn't know the answer to that question.

"I don't know," I adjusted so I was sitting down now. "Elijah seems to think that was my only shot and I wasted it."

Derek raised an eyebrow, "Did he forget that I'm contagious and you hang around me all the time?"

The door opened and it was Elijah.

"I didn't forget," he had heard us through the door. "But everyone knows there's a limit to what magic can do. Also," he thumped Derek on the back of the head. "You two should've done that outside. That's going to take forever to clean up."

"Sorry," Derek looked down.

"You two put up one hell of a fight though," Elijah smiled. "I'm impressed."

Derek was calmed down enough now to go back inside. He got in the shower to clean up so I went looking for Jeremy and Emma.

"Hey," I found them with Simon out back.

Jeremy had his shirt off, there were cuts all over him but the worst were on his back. Long deep cuts, my guess was claws.

"Chloe," Emma smiled. "Please convince him to let Simon help."

I did the same thing that I did out front, I sat down in front of Jeremy so I wasn't within touching range.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

He lifted his head to look at me, tears were streaming down his face from the pain.

"Leave me alone," he said.

Emma huffed annoyed, "That's all he'll say."

I moved a little closer, "Let me talk to him alone."

Emma nodded, she and Simon went inside but stopped at the table so they could still see what was going on.

"Jeremy," I said softly. "Talk, it's just us."

His breathing was uneven, "It hurts to talk."

"So let Simon heal you up," I suggested. "You probably have a broken rib or two and those gashes look nasty."

Jeremy shook his head.

"Why?"

"Cause I deserve the pain," he said. "I don't know why I did that."

"I do," I said. "It's because all werewolves do that. Werewolves don't like not being on top so your instincts told you to provoke him and try to prove dominance. Didn't you wonder why no one else tried to stop you guys? Because they know it's a part of being what you are."

"Why'd you stop us then?" He asked.

"Because I care about you guys," I said. "If you haven't noticed, I'm willing to put myself in dangerous situations so others can come out the other side."

A little stream of blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth from all the talking.

"I don't like the look of that Jeremy, please let Simon help. You don't know if you have internal bleeding."

Jeremy sighed and nodded. I waved at the door for Simon to come out. Simon came out quickly and started healing Jeremy. When he was done, Jeremy grabbed his arm.

"How mad is she?" He asked.

Simon shrugged and helped Jeremy to his feet.

"Go ask her yourself after you clean up."

Jeremy nodded and walked in with us. He started walking to the stairs as Derek was coming down. Derek looked over and saw me watching.

"You alright?" Derek asked Jeremy.

Jeremy flinched, expecting a fight to break out again not for Derek to be concerned.

"I guess," he nodded. "Look, I'm sorry about all that. I don't know where it came from."

Derek waved it off, "It happens with werewolves. You're not off the hook for the toothbrush lie but the rest of its fine."

Jeremy laughed nervously and left to go clean up.

"I'm all clean," Derek said to me. "Can I get a hug yet?"

This wasn't how Derek acted the last time I was human. I think he'd come to the conclusion that if I got it from him again, he knew I could handle it and if I couldn't then what could be better? I'd forever stay immune to him and he didn't have to worry.

I hugged him. Tess came into the room with garbage bags and held them out to Derek.

"Get to work," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Derek took the bags from her.

I tried to take one from him and Tess swatted my hand, "Nope. His mess, he cleans it. And Jeremy will be joining you as soon as he's out of the shower."

She took me by the shoulder and guided me to the kitchen where Emma was. I sat down beside Emma, suddenly feeling like we were in trouble.

"Does one of you want to explain why you two smell like V?" She sat across from us, keeping her voice low.

I was surprised she caught it since we'd barely come into direct contact with him.

"We ran into him for a second," Emma answered. "He's getting ready to leave town."

Tess asked, "That's all?"

We nodded.

"Alright then, go pack up."

We quickly went upstairs before Tess could change her mind believing us. I followed her to her room.

"Jeremy thinks you're mad at him for the fight," I said.

She shrugged, "I don't think I have the right to be mad that they did what werewolves do. Especially since we knew it was coming sooner or later. But I am mad that I wasn't here for it. We could've stepped in a lot sooner if it wasn't for my stupid vampirism."

"Emma you can't blame yourself for needing to feed."

"You know the same things going to happen to us eventually right?" Emma sighed. "Female werewolves tend to fight too."

I wanted to say that we would be fine because I wasn't werewolf anymore but I couldn't bring myself to admit that out loud yet. Instead I said, "I think we get along well enough we don't need to be above the other. We just want to be friends."

Emma smiled. "I hope so."

"Hey, not to change the subject," I said. "But I had a problem earlier after I yelled at boys."

Emma snorted, "That was a full out scream not a yell. But what happened?"

"I kind of had vampire eyes. They were all red and evil looking."

The smile fell off her face, "Uh oh."

"Yep, uh oh is right."


	130. Goodbyes

The adults tried to get us to go to bed at a semi decent time last night but we were too hyper. Liz and Kyle had just gotten back and we were all about to separate so we wanted to spend as much time together as we could. Everyone was telling Liz and Kyle stories about the stuff that they missed and they told stories about what it was like to be on the other side.

I listened to all the stories but I didn't contribute much. I was lost in thought about V's offer. If I really was becoming vampire, maybe it wasn't a bad idea. I didn't want to put my family at risk. He seemed to like me, I don't think he would hurt me if I was on his side. I'd be better off surrounded by vampires going through the same thing than a bunch of werewolves who don't even know I'm not werewolf anymore.

Stop that Chloe, I told myself. You're not supposed to be a fleeing helper anymore, you promised Matt. You know it never works out the way you think it will. If you go with V you might die on some stupid adventure.

Derek noticed I hadn't touched my breakfast yet, "You alright?"

I nodded unconvincingly.

"What is it?" He pushed.

I stepped into the other room with Derek so no one else would hear.

"Do I tell them?" I asked. "You said only werewolves should go. Maybe I shouldn't."

"Ok first of all," Derek took my hand. "You're coming with us no matter what species. We need you there with us. I need you there with me. And secondly, it's up to you if you want to tell them. I think that maybe they should know so people don't expect things of you that you can't do."

I nodded, "I need a little time to adjust first. And who knows, maybe I can get it back still."

"Is there anything else?" Derek asked.

I hesitated. If he knew I thought about V's offer then he would put me on lockdown.

"Chloe."

"Alright fine," I caved. Lockdown or not, I needed to talk about it. "V talked to me about coming with him. He wants me to leave you guys and join the vampire nest. V thinks I would be happier among my own kind."

"Why are you even giving him a second thought?" Derek asked. His grip on my hand tightened. "You aren't leaving us. We're your family not him, he keeps trying to hurt you. I won't let you go with him, Simon will stop you too."

"Derek you're hurting me," I said. He immediately let go of my hand. This non-werewolf me was going to be an adjustment for both of us.

"Please don't leave," Derek pleaded.

"I wasn't going to," I gave a reassuring smile. "It's just been hard to wrap my head around, that's all. A man who barely knows me wants me to join his family."

"Hey, we barely knew you when we ran away with you," Derek pointed out.

I rolled my eyes.

Everyone was already packed so once breakfast was finished and the dishes were done. It was time to go our separate ways. I hugged everyone tightly, especially Matt.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without you," I told him.

"You're going to practice your necromancy powers and become the best there ever was," Matt smiled at me. I think he was trying to hint that if I practiced I wouldn't feel so helpless not being werewolf.

We said our goodbyes and then hit the road. Derek was already fidgety being away from Simon. But he knew it was better for Simon to be with Matt where he was protected.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze in Tess and Elijah's car. Elijah drove and Tess was in the passenger seat. I sat in between them. Everyone else was in the backseat.

"How do we know where to go?" I asked. "Montana's a big state."

Elijah sighed, "Well, like I said werewolves tend to claim a territory and stay there. Montana has two packs that I'm aware of. One has territory through the Rocky Mountains, and the other's territory goes through the national forest."

The question came out before I could stop it.

"Which one are you from?"

"You're from Montana too?" Emma got excited.

"I'm from the mountain pack, we called ourselves the Shadow Pack," Elijah sounded sad. "I left a long long time ago."

"Why?" Jeremy asked.

"Jeremy," Tess butt in.

"It's alright," Elijah said. "I left because my parents died and I couldn't handle taking over their responsibilities. My sister was always better at being in charge than me so I left her to take over."

I tried to change the subject before someone asked what he was supposed to take over.

"Do you remember what your home was like?" I asked Emma.

She shook her head, "Not really, I mean there were trees but there's trees everywhere so that doesn't really narrow anything down."

We decided to try the forest pack first. Elijah says they're called the Blood Moon Pack. It was going to be a couple days of driving but hopefully it would be worth it.

**Big time skip here to keep the story moving along:)**

We're here in Montana now. About an hour from the territory. But it was nearing 1 a.m. so we stopped at a motel. Tess felt that showing up in the middle of the night would come across as an ambush to the wolfs because they had no idea we were on our way.

I laid in bed thinking about what Matt said. It'd been a while since I really used my necromancy powers. It was probably time that I started recognizing that part of me and seeing myself as a necromancer not a werewolf. I closed my eyes and searched for any animal bodies nearby but couldn't find any. We were in a small town so I wasn't surprised that they were keeping it clean.

I pictured my search radius going beyond the edge of the town and I started detecting small things. There was a racoon among a pile of rocks, a roadkill squirrel that had been hit by a car, someone recently buried a pet cat. There was something oddly comforting about only finding animals and not people in my search.

Falling asleep to that thought, I dreamt of being a police detective who solved crimes using my necromancy powers. I could find dead bodies with my scanning and when my partner wasn't looking, resurrect the person so they could tell me who did it.

"Hey," Derek said softly, shaking my shoulder. "Wake up."

I yawned and rolled over, "Why?"

"We've got to get going soon," he said.

I stuck my tongue out at him. Derek chuckled.

"What was that for?"

I closed my eyes as if I was falling back asleep, "I can only wake if I get a kiss."

Derek brushed the mess of hair off my face and kissed me softly. I opened my eyes.

"Why good morning Derek," I smiled.

Derek rolled his eyes and pilled the blanket over my head as he got out of the bed.

We all got showered before getting in the car, we wanted to be as presentable as possible in case this was the pack that was Emma's family. Breakfast consisted of snack machine junk food, which I was good with.

"Are you ready?" I asked Emma. "We can always turn back if you don't want to do this."

She took a deep breath and squeezed Jeremy's hand.

"I'm good, I'm ready, just nervous," she nodded.


	131. The forest

I was focused on my phone, texting Simon to see how things were going, when Elijah said, "Uh oh."

We all looked to see what this uh oh was. It was the road ending, ahead of us was a dead end sign and a grassy field.

"That's the forest," Elijah pointed past the field. "I hoped this road would lead you guys all the way but I guess not."

"You guys?" Derek questioned.

Elijah nodded, "The less werewolves that show up unannounced the better. You're all adults, you can do this."

Tess rolled her eyes at his blunt response, "We think you guys can handle a family reunion on your own. EJ and I are going to visit his sister. If you need us we're only a few hours away."

I hugged them goodbye and wished them luck. I couldn't argue with them going, it made sense. Even if this was easygoing and nothing bad happened; it would still be easier on their stress level to be around family.

"Let's get walking," Jeremy opened the door.

I had to admit I didn't expect to walk across a field and into a forest searching for buildings. I thought that we would drive into a wooded town or something. As we crossed the field, I got an uneasy feeling in my gut. Like I was being watched.

"You ok?" Derek asked me. "You look a little pale."

"Any chance this used to be a cemetery?" I asked, I was probably catching remains of ghosts who used to be here. It'd been a while since I was around a cemetery.

Emma nodded, "That's actually pretty likely since the pack doesn't move, they need to bury their dead somewhere."

Derek rubbed my shoulder, "You'll be ok. Don't be afraid if you see any ghosts, I'm right here."

"Hey girl!" I heard off to my left.

"You jinxed it Derek," I playfully elbowed him. He smiled apologetically.

An old woman approached us.

"Hi," I said.

She had a cute smile, "You don't know how good it feels when someone can finally see you and acknowledge you."

"How long have you been here?" I asked as I stepped around a big rock that was partially covered by the tall grass.

"Oh I don't know," she sighed. "Since 1987, however long ago that way."

"Are you stuck?" I asked.

She shrugged, "I don't have any unfinished business." She paused for a minute. "I think I'm waiting for my nephew, I miss him dearly."

I didn't know how to tell her 1987 was so long ago, her nephew was probably already dead.

I opened my mouth to ask what his name was when Emma said, "Does anyone else hear that buzzing?"

I nodded, it sounded like an electric fence almost. When I looked back to where the old woman had been walking, she was gone. The boys were shaking their heads, they didn't hear any buzzing.

The sound kept getting louder the closer we got to the trees.

"It might be-" Jeremy began.

We stepped across the invisible line, the buzzing stopped and buildings appeared where the trees were a second ago. There was dozens of buildings separated by dirt paths instead of roads. They were all wood and stone and one story tall.

"-a boundary spell," Jeremy finished, gawking at the town like the rest of us.

Two men spotted us and approached us with bows. They did not look happy to see newcomers.

"We're friendly," Derek said to them.

"State your business," The man on the right said, aiming his bow at Derek.

They both wore bullet belts but they were full of wooden stakes instead of bullets. I guess these guys didn't like traditional arrows. The man on the left looked like his was in his thirties, he had dirty blonde hair and scars across his cheek. The man on the right looked older but it was harder to pinpoint his age. He had gray hair but didn't look old enough for it. My guess was fifties.

Derek gestured over to Emma. "My friend here may have lived with you long ago. We are searching for her family."

He pointed the bow towards Emma now, "Name."

"Emma," she said. Then cleared her throat. "Amelia."

Jeremy glanced over at me, he didn't know Emma was a nickname either.

The man bow lowered slightly, I saw a badge stitched on his jacket that read Ben. "Amelia? Amelia Davis?"

Emma nodded.

The werewolf on the left shook his head, "No way. Amelia Davis disappeared when she was six years old. She's been dead for thirteen years."

"What's Amelia's brothers name?" Ben asked, trying to get her to prove she was who she said she was.

Emma didn't hesitate, "I don't have one. Unless my parents had more children after I disappeared."

"That doesn't prove anything," the left werewolf growled.

Ben stepped closer to Emma, catching her scent in the light breeze. "Lower your weapon Rax. It's got to be her, she smells like her mother."

Rax lowered it slightly but he didn't drop it to his side like Ben did.

"Amelia," Ben smiled. "Your parents aren't going to believe this."

Emma laughed nervously, she was still a little scared of seeing them. Ben gestured for us to follow him but Rax stepped in the way.

"These strangers are not getting in," he growled.

Ben rolled his eyes, "Why?"

"It's the rules," Rax's gaze landed on me. I moved closer to Derek, unsure if he could smell that I wasn't werewolf.

"Oh come on," Ben groaned. "Do the rules really apply when a long lost child shows back up?"

Emma opened her mouth to argue with being called a child and Jeremy pinched her arm to shut her up. He didn't want anything making Ben mad and ruining our chances of getting in.

"If they do something, it's on you," Rax growled, finally lowering his bow.

Ben nodded, "Of course." Then waved for us to follow him.

I stayed so close to Derek as we walked past Rax that I was practically tripping him. Derek didn't say anything about it so he probably knew why I was nervous. Rax took up the rear and followed us as we walked into the little town. The dirt paths between buildings must mean they didn't use cars here.

"Do you remember where you lived?" Ben asked Emma.

She shook her head.

"Right this way," he said and guided us through the maze of buildings.

I looked back over my shoulder and Rax wasn't there anymore. I smiled relieved to be away from him and Ben caught it.

"Not a fan of him?" He chuckled. "I don't blame you. He probably left to report me for letting you kids in."

We approached a house that was alive with noise inside. Ben knocked on the door. The noise quieted as a man in a wheel chair opened the door. He looked like he was older and life had been hard on him. I'm sure lots of werewolves look worn down though, from all those years of changing.

"Hi Scott," Ben smiled. "Is Ava home?"

Scott stared at all of us grumpily.

"Who're these people," Scott asked.

Ben nodded at Emma, telling her to answer the question.

"Um," she said nervously. Jeremy held her hand trying to stop the nervous shaking. "Hi. Remember your daughter Amelia?"

Scott turned his wheel chair to go back inside and shut the door on us. He was in no mood to talk about it.

"We found her," I spoke up.

Scott froze and looked over at me.

"What did you just say?"

I pointed at Emma, "I said we found her."


	132. Scott and Ava

**I'm so glad you find that chapter well written, I had some difficulty with it. I think that was like my third maybe fourth draft lol. I'm going to try to bring in as much necromancy for Chloe as I can without taking away from Emma's storyline. **

"What did you say?" The man stared at me.

I pointed to Emma, "I said we found her."

Scott followed my finger to her, Emma's eyes widened. I hoped I didn't just overstep my boundaries and take telling them, away from her.

Scott asked Emma, "She's alive?"

Jeremy gave her hand a squeeze.

"Yes," Emma nodded. Scott moved closer to her and Derek squeezed my hand.

"Please, tell me where she-" He paused, finally close enough to get her scent. "…Amelia?"

Emma nodded, a small smile on her face. "Hi Dad."

"Oh my god," he whispered. "I don't believe it. Is it really you?"

A smile grew on his face and he pulled Emma down into a hug.

"It's really me," Emma hugged him back.

Scott kept whispering, "I don't believe it. You're really here."

Ben tipped an imaginary hat our way and walked away with a smile. An older woman with curly black hair came to the door wearing a gray long sleeve dress that ended at her knees. Below her knee was a toddler holding tight and staring at us. Ava ignored the rest of us and looked right at Scott and Emma.

"What's going on here Scott?" She asked. I expected her to be a little accusatory but her voice was soft and gentle.

"Hi Mom," Emma said as Scott finally let go of her.

"Excuse me?" Ava shooed the toddler back inside.

"Amelia's come back," Scott said.

"That's not funny Scott," her tone turned accusatory now.

"Ms. Davis," I said as she turned to go back inside. "It's not a joke."

I couldn't blame either one of them for doubting us, they hadn't seen her since she was six years old so they would have no idea what she looked like now. Scent was the only way they'd recognize her.

"It's really me Mama," Emma smiled.

Ava came up beside Scott and smelled Emma's scent. She threw her arms around Emma.

"My baby!" She exclaimed.

I noticed the toddler still standing in the doorway and waved at him. With the three of them hugging and talking, no one noticed the kid. He watched me for a moment then disappeared inside.

Scott ushered us all inside after a neighbor poked their head out their window to see what the shouting was about. He directed us to a small seating area just inside the door that was probably their living room. The four of us fit ourselves onto the couch.

"I'm dreaming," Ava was in tears as she sat in a rocking chair. "Where have you been?"

Scott's eyes widened and he gave her a look, trying to tell Ava not to ask questions like that so soon.

"It's alright," Emma said, seeing the look. "I got kidnapped by a vampire nest. They've had me all this time."

"Oh god," they gasped.

I assumed Emma didn't want to tell them that she'd been hunting with us, they might be hurt hearing she didn't come home right away.

Derek tapped the back of my hand with his thumb and nodded at the arm of the couch beside me. The little boy was back with a cracker in his hand. I smiled at him and he held it out to me. I accepted the cracker, the boy smiled and ran to the kitchen.

I tuned back into the conversation right as we were addressed.

"Who're your friends?" Scott asked, looking Jeremy over.

"They are the ones that rescued me and helped me find my way home," Emma said.

It was probably a good idea that she left out mentioning Elijah and Tess who I guess would be werewolves from a rival pack.

Scott took Ava's hand so she wouldn't come over and hug us all. She looked like she wanted to.

"Thank you," she said through her tears.

Emma couldn't help but get a little teary too. This was the moment she had waited years for and now they were here in front of her.

"I've missed you guys," Emma said softly.

The toddler came back to the side of the couch with another cracker. He passed it to Derek then took my hand and pulled. I stood and let the toddler guide me to the kitchen. I glanced back and gave Derek a reassuring smile, he was obviously nervous about not being able to see me.

Once we got into the kitchen, I ate the cracker I'd been given and the kid's smile grew.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Tim," he said as he reached up and grabbed the cracker sleeve off the counter.

I knelt down so I wasn't standing over the kid.

"How old are you Tim?"

He held up four fingers.

"That's awesome," I smiled.

Tim giggled and held out the cracker sleeve to me.

"Thank you," I took two, wondering how things were going in the living room. I figured there was no harm in keeping the kid occupied while they talked. "Where's your room Tim?"

He shook his head, "At home."

I frowned, "Isn't this home?"

Tim shook his head again, "Papa's."

Ohhh, this was his grandparents house, they must be babysitting… which meant Emma has a sibling now… right?

"Do you have any toys at Papa's?" I asked.

Tim took my hand and lead me back to the living room. He led me over to a basket of wood trains and train tracks. I saw Derek's fist unclench when I sat on the floor with Tim. Emma and her parents were hugging and crying again so I kept my gaze on Tim and the trains. Emma didn't need an audience during something like this.

I watched as Tim built a little oval track, every time he found a train piece in his basket; he would hand it to me. So I followed his lead and set the train on the tracks. I could feel Derek's gaze on me, he was trying to do the same thing and give Emma a bit of privacy.

"What did they do to you for so many years?" Scott asked.

This question caught my attention, Emma really hadn't told us a whole lot of detail just the overview. I wondered if she would tell her parents more than she told us.

"Experimentation," was the only word out of Emma's mouth.

Her eyes were on the floor and she sat back down on the couch and Jeremy put an arm around her. A growl came from Emma's dad which threw me off to be quite honest. It was weird hearing a growl come from an old man.

"It's ok-" Jeremy started but Scott cut him off.

"Hell no! It is nowhere near okay! Vampires stole my baby girl and experimented on her for over a decade and a half?! I'm going to kill those sons-"

"Scott," Ava hissed. "Tim is right there."

Tim looked up at his name being mentioned and I took his hand.

"Let's go get more crackers," I told him.

He nodded and walked with me back to the kitchen.

"What I was going to say sir," Jeremy said. It wasn't easy to eavesdrop from the kitchen but I could hear them if I focused. "Was that it's ok now. The vampire nest was killed off so they won't come back after Emma."

"That's not good enough," Scott growled. "They deserve to be tortured for the rest of their existence!"

"Well you can't torture them," Derek butt in. "They're dead and that's that."

No Derek no just shut up. They're emotional just leave them be.


	133. Kicked out

"That's that?" Scott growled. "Do you know what this family was robbed of?! My six year old daughter disappeared in the middle of the night! She never got to have a childhood! I never got to watch her grow up! I thought she was dead and that I'd never get to walk her to school again, never get to hold her after a nightmare, never get to see her smile again, or walk her down the aisle or get her ice cream after a breakup. I'd never get to watch over her and keep her safe, tell her that everything is going to be alright…"

"Papa's angry," Tim said, getting my attention back. "Why?"

I sat down on the ground and leaned against the cupboard as I handed Tim the train pieces still in my hand. Tim took them and started building.

"He's not angry," I said. "The other girl, that's his daughter. And he's missed her a lot."

I'm not sure if Tim was listening to me now, he seemed very focused on the wood train. I looked up as I heard movement, Scott came into the room. Ava must have told him to go get some air and calm down.

"Is this your grandson?" I asked Scott.

Scott shook his head as he adjusted how he was sitting in the wheelchair.

"No, Tim's our neighbor's kid. They work during the day so Tim comes over here to play."

"Oh," I nodded. "So um how're you doing with all this?"

Scott ignored my question and came closer, eyes narrowing.

"I know you're not one of us," he said voice lowered. He stopped a foot away from me. "I smelled it as soon as you stepped in my house. I want you out of here now, I will not be associated with non-werewolves."

I froze, not knowing what to say.

"Get out," he growled and pointed to the dining area which probably had a back door.

"But-"

"I said now," he growled. "Or I'm telling the authorities about your trespassing. Do you want to know what we do to trespassers?"

I thought I saw a flash of metal in Scott's sleeve. Did he have a knife?!

"Ok ok," I stood slowly, hands raised.

Alright this'll be fine. I won't go far and Derek will come find me. It'll be fine.

I stepped out the back door and crossed the yard to the nearest dirt path. I took a deep shaky breath; Derek wasn't kidding whenever he would say he wasn't like other werewolves. They really don't like other species. I needed to be careful here. I was wandering without protection.

I felt selfish when the thought crossed my mind but I wished Liz and Kyle were still ghosts so I would have someone to summon and talk to.

"Idiot," I whispered to myself. "You have a phone."

I pulled it out and texted Derek what happened.

**Jeremy's POV**

I couldn't be happier for Emma, she finally had everything she wanted. Friends, family, and a home.

I have to admit though that her Dad was a little weird. He was so kind and caring towards Emma but kind of rude to Derek and me. Derek deserved it for his comment but what did I do? I'm the one sitting here holding her hand and making sure she stays calm. It's been too long since she's changed, the emotions of all this could set her over the edge and I don't think she realizes it.

Maybe it was because I was holding her? Scott might see me as a threat, like I might try to take her away from him or something.

"I'm sorry about your bedroom," Ava said to Emma. "We kept it for years but… after we lost hope we just… boxed it all up."

Emma didn't seem that hurt. "It's ok, I don't even remember what my old room looked like."

"We've been using it as storage," Ava looked embarrassed to admit this. "It's been too difficult to spend time in there without thinking of you so we couldn't do much with it. It'll take no time at all to clear out the boxes. We can get you all new furniture over the next few days, you can decorate however you like."

This hadn't actually crossed my mind. Would Emma stay with them?

"Um," Emma didn't know what to say. "Don't do anything yet. I don't know if I'm moving in."

"Oh," Ava looked sad. "I guess I can't blame you, you're an adult now."

Scott came back into the room, unaware of what the conversation was about so he began his own.

"Amelia," he said. "Can I just say how proud I am of you. You survived for sixteen years. That's incredible."

Emma shifted, not wanting to dwell on the vampire stuff. I squeezed her hand and changed the subject for her.

"Mr. Davis, is it alright for me to ask what happened?" I asked gesturing to the wheelchair, figuring there was no harm in the question if this man already didn't like me and it momentarily got the attention off of Emma.

Scott nodded, "I figured someone would ask eventually. I had a heart attack during a change and I ended up breaking my spine. Technically, I can still walk but it causes me tremendous pain. My back and chest are full of pinched nerves."

"I'm sorry," I said softly. I didn't know what else to say to that, it sounded awful.

There was a soft buzz buzz coming from Derek's pocket, he pulled out his phone and checked it. Derek twisted uncomfortably next to me. I wondered if it was because Chloe was in the other room or the image of breaking a spine during a change.

Scott shrugged, "I can't do anything about it."

Emma frowned, "Yes you can, witches can heal anything."

Ava opened her mouth to say something but Scott cut her off angrily.

"We do not associate with non-werewolves," he growled.

Emma tensed at this statement. The little boy came back into the room with a train in his hand. He set it next to the one Chloe built and started playing with them.

"Where's Chloe?" I asked, she didn't follow him out like she did before.

"She stepped out for a moment," Scott said.

Derek's fidgeting increased. Ava cleared her throat, trying to turn the conversation to a happier note.

"Amelia, do you still like egg rolls? It was your favorite when you were little. The only way you would eat your vegetables," Ava smiled.

"What's an egg roll?" Emma asked.

Ava jumped to her feet, "Oh I have to make them for lunch. I insist you try it again."

Emma stood and followed her into the kitchen. Derek cleared his throat.

"I'm going to go check on Chloe," he said as he got up.

There was a flash of anger on Scott's face as Derek walked out the front door but when he turned back to me his expression was calm.

"You should know something," he came closer to me. "That girl is no werewolf. You boys need to steer clear of her. Our kind does not associate with them."

I frowned, "Chloe's a werewolf, I've seen her change."

Scott set a hand on my knee, "Magical beings are great at manipulation, don't be hard on yourself for falling for her tricks. She's using your pack as a cover. I'll teach you about scents, its the only way to figure out what people really are."

**Chloe's POV**

I figured walking around was a bigger risk so I found a shady oak tree and sat down against the trunk. A teenage boy played with a soccer ball nearby. I watched as he kicked the ball around, not noticing the dark figure creeping up behind him. the dark figure jumped on the teenager and I realized he never screamed. I was watching a ghostly replay.

Stomach upset, I turned away not wanting to see it again.

"Chloe," Derek's voice made me look up.

He scooped me up in his arms and hugged me.

"What happened?" Derek asked as he let me go. "Chloe your eyes. They're red again."

I squeezed them shut as I answered his question, "Scott figured out I wasn't a werewolf and told me to get out. I thought he had a knife so I did what he said." I reopened my eyes, they were normal again.

Derek gently touched my chin, "Why do your eyes keep doing that Chloe?"

I shrugged. "Is that really the problem right now? Derek, I can't go back to Emma's home or he'll expose me to the rest of the werewolves here. You always talk about how dangerous packs can be. Do you really think they would let me walk out of here alive?"

I glanced over at the teen with the soccer ball. If the pack found out, I'd be just like him. A repeating image that no one could see.

Derek's finger traced over the spot on my arm where he bit me after saving me from becoming vampire.

"There's one thing we haven't tried," he said softly.

I shook my head, "That's no instant fix and it might not even work. I'll just go back to the field and wait for you guys."

"What if Emma and Jeremy decide to stay?" Derek asked.

"Emma won't. She knows they won't accept who she really is."


	134. I told you I was an experiment

**Yes Derek was suggesting biting her to turn her werewolf. It's the only way of turning her they haven't tried. **

**Jeremy's POV**

I was beyond confused. Chloe was a werewolf, she infected me! There's no possible way she could fake turning me and changing and the instincts and everything else! I tried to shake it off, I'd talk to her about it later, she deserved to know that Scott was spreading lies about her.

Scott and I joined Ava and Emma in the kitchen. Ava was teaching her how to make egg rolls and Emma had the biggest smile on her face. I don't think it was about the food, I think it was about her parents. She finally was doing things normal people did with their families. I sat at the dining table with Scott and watched them. The kitchen was a bit too small to have all four of us trying to cook.

In the back of my head I wondered why Chloe and Derek had been gone so long. I thought about texting one of them but if it was an emergency, I'm sure they would've called already.

**Chloe's POV**

"I'm not leaving you out here alone," Derek said. "We can leave or go back to the Davis'. Either one works but you're not going to be alone."

I smiled nervous, "I uh have an unconventional idea."

"What is it?"

I looked down at my fingers as I said it. "Well my werewolf part died right? And I can raise the dead…"

Derek frowned, "I don't think-"

"It's worth trying," I said.

Before Derek could talk me out of it with logic; I closed my eyes and imagined me when I was a wolf running through the woods. I imagined tugging at the werewolf spirit and putting it back into myself. I repeated this over and over in my head but I didn't feel any different.

I opened my eyes and sighed. "I thought it might work."

"You can't put a spirit into a living body," Derek explained softly. "You're the most powerful necromancer alive. But there are just certain laws of nature even you can't bend. And putting the dead in a live body is one of them."

I sat quietly, not knowing what to say back.

"Let's go back," Derek said. "Let him go ahead and get mad, I won't let him do anything. Besides, Emma should know what kind of people they are considering she's in a similar position."

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly.

Derek nodded, "It's the only way to keep an eye on everyone. I don't like leaving Emma alone with them."

I couldn't help but feel panic set in as we started walking and Derek could tell.

"Hey, it'll be alright," Derek put an arm around me.

We arrived back at the house and Derek walked right in without knocking. My heart was racing. No one was in the living room area, it sounded like they were all in the kitchen. Derek lead me over to the couch and sat down, arm around me protectively.

Not twenty seconds later, Scott came through the doorway looking angry.

"I told you to leave," he came into the living room.

Scott hadn't bothered to keep his voice down, so the others came to the doorway wondering what was going on.

"Why?" Derek asked. He knew why but he was trying to get Scott to say it in front of Emma. "Chloe's done nothing wrong."

Tim snuck past Scott before he could grab him and came over. He climbed up on the couch with his train and sat next to me, running the train up and down my leg and making sounds.

"Because she doesn't belong here," Scott growled.

"Scott what's going on?" Ava asked.

"I appreciate that they brought my daughter home, don't get me wrong," Scott turned slightly so he could see everyone. "But that girl is not werewolf and therefore is not permitted to be on our land."

"She's my best friend," Emma said softly. To my surprise she didn't address the not a werewolf part, maybe she thought he just meant not only a werewolf? "If she can't be here then I can't be here."

Scott grunted and rolled his eyes, "Don't be like that."

Ava set a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder, "Scott don't talk to her like that."

"Why can't I?" Scott asked. "I barely know this girl. The only thing I know about her is she's my daughter. Other than that, she's a complete stranger."

I could see the hurt in Emma's eyes from the comment. Ava growled at him.

"If Amelia says that she can stay then she can stay," Ava said. There was a ding in the kitchen. "Come on, they're ready."

She and Emma went back into the kitchen. I could hear faint murmuring between the two, I'm sure it was Ava apologizing for Scott's behavior. Jeremy looked at me worried.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked me.

I expected Scott to make some sort of comment but he didn't so I stepped back outside with Jeremy.

"I'm worried about Emma changing," Jeremy said, keeping his voice low in case someone was trying to listen in. "Can you remember the last time she changed?"

I shook my head, had she changed since we found her as a wolf? I couldn't remember.

"She's happy but she's stressed," Jeremy said. "I'm worried she might get pushed over the edge since it's been so long."

"We're in a community of werewolves," I reminded him. "She'd be alright changing here, its nothing out of the ordinary."

"You think she'll be alright blood wise too? I doubt she's going to tell them now."

I nodded, "She had some a few days ago. As long as no one starts bleeding to death, we'll be fine."

Jeremy looked like there was something else he wanted to say but raised voices caught our attention. We quickly walked back in. The voice we heard was Tim burning his mouth on an egg roll and everyone laughing at his expression.

Jeremy and I took our seats on the couch in between Derek and Emma. Emma offered us egg rolls and I declined. I wasn't very hungry right now.

Things remained civil while everyone was eating, Ava continued to ask Emma questions about what she remembered from her childhood with them. Emma answered as best as she could until Scott interrupted them with a question I'd been wondering too.

"Where are you all going to be staying?" Scott asked.

"They can stay here," Ava said. "I know we don't have much room but we can make it work."

Scott's eyes went directly to me, "No they can't."

A growl came from Emma, "I've had enough of the way you're treating my friend Scott. Don't worry about making accommodations, we'll be leaving soon."

Surprisingly, Scott's eyes showed a bit of hurt.

"You know you can stay sweetheart," he said.

Emma snorted a laugh making Jeremy shift nervously.

"If she can't stay then I can't stay," Emma said. "I told you I was experimented on."

Ava and Scott looked confused on where she was going with this. Tim, oblivious, came up to Derek with an action figure in each hand and started playing on the arm rest. Emma looked at me and drew a line across the palm of her hand. She wanted me to cut my palm like I'd done in the woods?

I didn't know if this was the right move, but it was her call. Using my fingernail, I cut my palm. Jeremy grabbed her arm just in case but Emma didn't move. She smelled the blood pooling in my palm and let her eyes turn red and her fangs come out.

"You're-" Ava couldn't finish the sentence. Her eyes were wide.

I expected Scott to be full on repulsed when he saw the vampirism. I thought he would scream for us to get out. But instead his eyes were soft and his hand covered his mouth as he stared at her.

"What have they done to my baby girl," he said finally.

Emma was starting to fidget. I reached over with my good hand and took Jeremy's hand off of her.

"Excuse us for a moment," I said and stood with Emma before Derek could snatch me. He immediately knew what I was about to do.

I walked into the kitchen with her and extended my bloody hand. Emma hesitated but took it.

"Why'd you tell them?" I whispered. "We figured you weren't going to."

Emma found a washcloth to wrap around my palm after she was done.

"I wasn't going to but I just couldn't stand them singling you out anymore. You're not the only odd one in our pack," she said.


	135. Chapter 135

**I'm going to bring in more necromancy in the next chapter or two! I'm not totally satisfied with how this chapter turned out, it can be hard to balance so many characters, but here it is lol**

It was dead silent as we reentered the living room. Scott watched Emma with a sad look in his eyes. I'm sure they knew what we were just doing but they were making sure they didn't openly react to it. Derek wrapped a tight hand around my washcloth band-aide as I sat down.

"How long have you been like this?" Ava asked finally.

Emma shrugged, not making eye contact, "Two or three years after they kidnapped me probably. I don't know maybe longer. Time is hard to keep track of."

Scott came up to Emma and wrapped her in a hug. I took the moment of distraction to send a quick text to Jeremy. Emma hugged Scott back but after she let go I could see the disappointment in her face which surprised me. I expected her to be happy that they were accepting who she was, so far.

"Why can you accept that I'm not a normal werewolf but not my friend?" She asked.

Scott frowned, "You didn't choose for this to happen to you and she did choose to hide among werewolves."

"I'm not hiding," I glared.

Derek squeezed my hand to try to tell me to quiet down.

"How did this happen to you?" Ava asked trying to keep attention off me.

"I don't want to talk about that," Emma said. I didn't blame her, it's got to be a dark time in her past. I wondered if she'd ever told Jeremy that stuff, he was the closest to her.

There was a knock at the door as someone opened it a crack. I glanced over to Jeremy and found him reading my text and giving me a look of either concern or surprise.

"Hello," a woman's voice called out.

"Come on in Julie," Ava responded.

The door opened the rest of the way and the woman, Julie, stepped in. She was very pretty, maybe late thirties, long straight blonde hair, and bright blue eyes. She was dressed in black dress pants and a dark gray blazer. Julie looked at all of us, I swore her gaze hovered over my bandaged hand for a moment. But I was probably just being paranoid.

"I got off work a bit early so I thought I'd come get Tim," Julie said turning to Scott and Ava. "I didn't realize you were having company today. I could've made other arrangements for Tim."

Scott waved it off, "We didn't know we'd have company either. Tim's been an absolute delight today, so well behaved."

Tim looked up from his toys and smiled, "Hi Mama."

"Hi sweetie," she smiled back. "Put away your toys please. It's time to go."

Tim did as he was told and started putting his things back in his basket. Derek, who had been quiet for a while, started getting tense after Julie said they were leaving. His grip on the washcloth hand was starting to hurt but I didn't say anything. What was it about this woman that was bothering him?

"I made a friend," Tim whispered to Julie. It was cute that he didn't think the rest of us could hear him.

"You did?" Julie said.

Tim set the last toy in the basket and pointed at me. I gave the woman a shy smile.

"Mmhm," Tim nodded. "And I shared like you says to."

Julie gestured for Tim to come towards her instead of her crossing the living room.

"That's very good of you Tim. We'll see you tomorrow," She nodded to Ava and Scott. "Thank you."

"Bye Papa. Bye Nana," Tim waved goodbye then followed Julie out the front door.

With his free hand, Derek pulled out his phone and started typing.

"You don't have to text each other," Ava chuckled. "You can talk."

"Actually I was texting our ride," Derek said. "We need to be going soon."

I hoped he was telling the truth and not texting Jeremy to find out what I said. If it came down to it, Derek's reaction needed to be genuine. He couldn't know what we were going to do.

"Why?" Emma asked.

Derek raised an eyebrow like he was surprised that he was the only one to put the puzzle together. "Because that woman is about to expose Chloe to the pack and get us killed?"

I frowned confused, the smile on Scott's face was unsettling. He'd been thinking the same thing Derek was.

"Tim was touching Chloe," Scott said. "So he has her non-werewolf scent on him. Its only a matter of time before they catch it and inform the authorities that we have a trespasser among us."

"Alright that's it," Emma stood. "We're leaving. What is with you two?"

Jeremy grabbed her hand, trying to pull her back to her seat gently.

"This is how normal werewolves operate sweetheart," Scott said. "We hate outsiders."

Emma opened her mouth to say something but I stood up and cut her off. "Wait Emma. I'll just go."

"No," Derek interjected but I ignored him.

"I'll see you guys later," I said. "It'll be fine."

Scott smiled, "Now she's being responsible. Go on, get out of here."

Scott waved me towards the door. I took one step before Derek grabbed my arm.

"We aren't splitting up," Derek growled.

"Hey," Jeremy said calmly, leaning forward and putting his hand on Derek's. "Let's not cause a scene."

Emma nodded agreeing with Jeremy. Derek slid his hand out from under Jeremy's and turned to Scott. Before he could say whatever he was going to, Jeremy yanked on my hand, pulling it close to him and sank his teeth into my wrist. I hissed from pain but tried not to rip my hand away.

Commotion erupted. Ava and Emma screamed and Derek jerked me away from Jeremy.

"I'm going to kill you," Derek snarled at Jeremy. I quickly put myself in between them.

"Oh really?" Jeremy said. "Because I just saved her butt."

Scott smiled and shook his head, "You clever boy. I didn't think any of you would bite her."

Derek tried to get around me but I kept getting in his way.

"Chloe get out of my way," he growled.

"No," I said. "Help me clean up."

I pushed Derek into the kitchen and unwrapped the washcloth from my hand.

"Don't be mad at him," I said as quietly as I possibly could. "I told him to."

Derek stared at the bite as I wrapped the washcloth around it. We could hear Scott laughing and saying something about justice being served. Normally I would rinse off an injury like this but I didn't even know if it would work so I didn't want to clean it and risk not getting turned.

"Why?" Was all he managed to say.

"Because you couldn't do it," I replied. "I saw what it did to you before Derek. It'll crush you to knowingly put me back in a werewolf position. I can't put that guilt on you. I told Jeremy to do it if things started going downhill because it would allow us to stay for Emma."

"I could've done it," Derek's gaze lowered, hurt.

I shook my head and hugged him. I checked my washcloth bandage and made sure it was secure before we walked back to the living room. Scott looked me over and smiled.

"Well I'm a man of my word," he said leaning back in his wheelchair. "This is a place for werewolves and if you live you're one of them. So stay a while."

This guy baffled me, I couldn't believe how easily he flipped his opinion of people.

I'm kind of glad Emma isn't the same way. When I looked over to Emma, she was clearly pissed at Jeremy. Uh oh.


	136. Ashe in the Mountains

**Elijah's POV**

I drove us as close as we were going to get. Like the other pack, we didn't have a road that lead directly into the territory. It would be a dead giveaway that we were living there and we didn't want to mix with humans.

"We aren't going to have to hike through these mountains are we?" Tess asked as she looked out the window. "It would take days."

I rolled my eyes playfully, "You think we don't have a shortcut?"

I pulled the car off into the trees and grabbed Tess' backpack as we got out.

"Werewolves don't usually use magic," Tess said.

I took her hand and lead her to a deer trail, "We're unusual then. The pack decided long ago to use magic for travel because the hike was so long."

Half a mile down the trail was an old rusty metal chair nailed to an oak tree.

"Our shortcut," I gestured at it.

Tess looked at me confused and I smiled.

"We kind of imitated the Harry Potter portkeys here," I said. "Touch it, say the right words, and voila you're at the territory."

Tess gawked at me, "You're all a bunch of nerds!"

She playfully hit my arm and changed the subject before I could come up with a witty comeback.

"It's good to have you back. I missed your smile, you've been so stressed."

I shrugged and looked up at the leaves in the trees, "It's hard not to be stressed. When I kidnapped Chloe from Nate, I kind of took responsibility for her. And finding out she might be in trouble and bringing you into the situation wasn't easy on me."

"All I'm saying," she gently pulled my chin down to make me look at her. "Is that its good to have you back. I'm not saying your stress is wrong." She turned back to the chair. "So how does this work again?"

I stepped closer to it, "Well, like I said; we copied the portkey in a way. Say expecto patronum while touching the chair and the magic brings you to our territory."

Tess chuckled and shook her head, "You should go first , they'll recognize you, I'd be some random person showing up."

I nodded and gave her a quick kiss before grabbing the chair. I said our silly phrase and in the blink of an eye, I was standing beside an identical chair on the edge of our territory. I took a deep breath nervous to be home. A rush of air swept by, signaling that Tess was coming, so I stepped back. She appeared next to the chair as I heard footsteps behind me, stopping maybe twenty feet away. Instinctively I grabbed Tess and pulled her close to me.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" A woman's voice said. "Elijah?"

I turned towards the speaker, keeping Tess behind me. It was a woman with braided shoulder length light brown hair, wearing in a midnight blue dress.

"Hi sis," I said.

"I don't believe it," she smiled. "What are you doing here?"

I shrugged, "I have to have a reason to visit?"

She nodded, "It's the first time you've ever come back. Don't blame me for wondering what the reason is."

Tess cleared her throat softly as she stepped up beside me.

"Oh my god, how rude of me," she walked up and extended her hand. "Welcome, my names Ashe."

"Tess," Tess shook her hand.

I saw the wheels turning in Ashe's head as she caught Tess' scent. Ashe was always a stickler for the rules.

"She's with me, she's allowed to stay," I growled softly.

Ashe smiled at Tess then rolled her eyes at me.

"You're not in charge anymore Elijah so you can't tell me what to do."

"Mind if we sit down while you two bicker?" Tess interrupted. "My feel are killing me."

Ashe lead the way to the opposite side of the nearest building where a dark green picnic table sat. I recognized this building to be our version of a town hall. It was basically two big conference rooms where we conducted any important and private business.

"You alright?" I asked Tess as we sat down.

Tess nodded and gave me a look that said I was worrying over nothing

"How long are you trying to stay?" Ashe asked as she said across from us.

"Trying? Really Ashe?" I frowned annoyed. "We were just coming by to visit, our friends that we travel with are visiting family nearby."

"You exiled yourself years ago," Ashe put emphasis on the word years. "You have no idea what the rules are here anymore."

I chuckled, "Yeah? Because you're so different from dad right?"

Tess leaned against me as I put my arm around her.

"I'm sorry, I'm really confused," Tess said.

"After our parents died and I left, Ashe was left to take over their responsibilities," I said. "And apparently she's still just as strict as dad when it comes to outsiders."

Ashe's smile grew and I glared at her, knowing what was coming next.

"You really didn't tell your girlfriend that you dumped your responsibilities as a pack alpha on me and ran away?"

I took my arm off Tess as she looked at me. I wouldn't look back at her, I stared down Ashe.

"Oh this is gold," Ashe was loving this.

A werewolf stepped out of the front door of the building and waved to Ashe. They needed her for something inside. She quickly dismissed herself.

"EJ," Tess said softly. I didn't react, "EJ look at me."

I did and said, "I was hoping she wouldn't tell you about that."

She reached over and took my hand. I realized it was worry in her eyes not disappointment.

"You're not going to do that to the baby are you?"

"Oh god no Tess," I immediately pulled her so close she was practically sitting on me. "I was a stupid scared kid who had just lost his parents. This is totally different, I'm not going anywhere."

We sat quickly for a while. I didn't know what to say to reassure her I wasn't leaving. After some time, Ashe finally came back out and took her seat across from us.

"Please tell me I didn't miss the big fight," she said.

"Do you really need to be such a jerk?" I growled. "I haven't seen you in how many years and this is how you react?"

Ashe shrugged, "Little sisters are supposed to torture their older brothers." She looked to Tess, "Are you hungry? I'm starving."

I interpreted the offer for food as Ashe easing off a little bit about Tess being here. Maybe Ashe realized she was going a bit far.

Tess nodded.

"Great! Follow me," she stood up.

As Tess and I stood, I think Ashe finally took a moment to look her over because she gasped. Before we could say anything, Ashe had cleared the picnic table and tackled me in a hug. Air knocked out of my lungs, I coughed and tried to push her off me.

"Get off me," I said as I tried to pry her off but her grip was solid.

"No," she said stubbornly. "You should've told me that I'm going to be an aunt. That changes things."

I looked up at Tess who was laughing at my situation. I managed to snake my hand under Ashe's arm and tickle her armpit. Her one weakness. Ashe flinched and jumped back laughing. I quickly got to my feet and dusted the dirt off my clothes. Ashe squeezed Tess with a hug next.

"Congrats," she said to Tess with a huge smile. "Let's get food."

We followed Ashe as she started walking.

"Why does it change things?" Tess asked curiously.

"Well because if you're mates then you're welcome to the pack. We don't allow random werewolves around but mates are a different story." Ashe explained.

"How do you grow your pack if you don't talk to others outside it?" Tess asked.

I threw my hands up, "Thank you! I asked that for years."

Ashe rolled her eyes at me as we walked into the tavern. The place hasn't changed much since I left. The layout was simple, dark wood tables lined the walls and two pool tables were in the center of the room. The back wall had a small bar and the doors to the kitchen and rest room.

I felt eyes on us as we took our seats. I'm not sure if I was being paranoid or if people were recognizing me. Most people probably hated me for deserting my role in the pack.

A woman that I didn't recognize brought waters over to our table.

"Ma'am," she nodded to Ashe before addressing all of us. "What can I get everyone?"

"I'll have the usual fried chicken please Gabby," Ashe smiled.

She quickly scribbled it down on a notepad and looked to me.

"A burger please," I said.

Again she wrote it down before looking to Tess. Tess hesitated for a moment, probably because

we didn't have menus.

"A salad," was the first thing she could come up with.

Ashe held up a hand before Gabby could write it down.

"She'll have some chicken too," Ashe said.

Gabby nodded and walked away.

Ashe rolled her eyes at Tess, "You've got to eat more than lettuce dear."

"You know you can't tell her what to do right?" I raised an eyebrow. Had my little sister gone

crazy with the power of her position?

She ignored my question and asked Tess, "How did you two meet?"

Tess smiled hesitantly, "Well... the first time we met was years ago. He was looking for a place

to stay and I ran a safe house so we were put in contact with each other. EJ helped out around

the property a lot, it was great to have company around that wasn't paranoid psychos. I uh sort

of started to fall for him but he disappeared one night after some warlocks showed up looking

for my other tenant." Tess paused but Ashe didn't say anything. She just listened to Tess with

intense curiosity. "The second time we met, EJ showed back up on my doorstep with my

adopted daughter that had gone missing. He'd found her and brought her home."

Tess glanced over at me with a smile. I smiled back but honestly that story made me feel

crappy. I didn't mean to disappear on her. Did I really leave every time things got tough?

"I have so many questions," Ashe said. "Why was Elijah needing a safe house? Why'd he

disappear? Why'd he come back with your daughter? Wait no answer that first. I want to hear

about your daughter. Was she from your mate?"

Tess shook her head, "She's not biologically related to me, I just unofficially adopted the girl

when she showed up at my house. Poor girl had been through so much she needed family.

Elijah was working for her boyfriends pack at the time so when she showed up on his doorstep

and mentioned me, Elijah brought her home."

Ashe's attention was on me now, a flicker of anger in her eyes, "You left our pack for another

one?"

I shook my head, "No Ashe, after I left the safe house I needed to find protection somehow and

they offered it if I did work for them. I was never truly part of their pack."

"Why did you need protection and a safe house?" Ashe asked.

I wanted to snap at her and tell her to stop hounding me for answers but the muscles in my back

tensed. Telling me that giving into the anger wasn't a good plan.

"I made some mistakes," I said. "Made some powerful shapeshifters angry. I needed to make

powerful allies quick before they killed me."

"What did you do to a bunch of shapeshifters?" Tess asked grabbing my hand.

I sighed before answering. "Exposed their whereabouts to a bunch of angry demons and while

they were all fighting I stole the shapeshifters source of magic. It was this weird meteorite or

something, I'm not really sure."

"What did you do with it?" Ashe asked.

I shrugged, "Sold it to the highest bidder."

Thankfully the food showed up and the conversation died down as we started eating. I didn't

know how much more I wanted to explain about my past.


End file.
